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, "The Narrative of a Japanese" by
Joseph Heeo or James
Murdoch ?'
Piers H. T. Dowding
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The first Japanese American, Joseph Hecoo (1837-1897) wrote an
account of his unusual life where, as a boy, he was swept out into
mid-Pacific, rescued and educated in America. He returned in time to
observe with the eyes of the first foreigners Japan's turbulent move
ment towards and entry into the. first thirty years of the Meiji Era.
This unique account was first published in two volumes under the
title of it The Narrative of a Japanese "2) in 1892/33) and 1895. It was
edited by a 6 sometime assistant professor of Greek at Aberdeen Uni
versity' 4) James Murdoch M. A. (1856-1921), later to write. a very good t History of Japan' in three volumes.5) ..
1). Unlike John Manjiro, his more famous predecessor (by 10 years), Heco took American citizenship and was baptized a Christian.
2) Heco, Joseph, The Narrative of a Japanese; what he has seen and the people
he has met in the course of the last 40 years. James Murdoch M. A. ed., (San Francisco: American-Japanese Publishing Association, 1741 Sutter Str., Tokyo: Kudo Printing Co. Ltd., No. 97 l-chome, Kashiwagi, Shin juku
ku, n. d. , 1950?) . 3) Dowding, Piers, Hamada Hikozo, New Discoveries in Tenri Library, Oka
yama Shodai Ronso, Vo1. 18, No.2 (consecutive, No. 38). This,' my preceding paper, suggests that the first Vol. was probably published in 1893, though the literature suggests 1892.
4) As he described himself in History of Japan Vol. 1., From the Origins to
the Arrival of the Portuguese in 1542 A. D., on the title ·page. (Printed at Kobe Chronicle, published by the Asiatic Society of Japan, 1910)
5) Sissons, D. C. S., Australia's First Professor of Japanese, James Murdoch
(1856-1921), (Australian National University May 7th 1 982). P. 0107, note 1, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/1 1/21, says that the fourth volume was in his head ready to be written down, when he died.
1 15
Vol. 18. No.3
This • Narrative ' has since been translated twice into Japanese6)
the trans.lations haying in both : cases follo:wed the� printed, ed�ted version
of Heco's story with varying degrees of accuracy.
WHY IS MURDOCH UNSUNG?
Thus matters might have stood, except that a nagging question
remains. Why did the translators follow an edited version and not the
original? That is to say, why were they content to translate Heco's
story after Murdoch's. contact with it? Surely such a thing would
happen only if they were completely assured of the very high quality
of Heco's English, and therefore of an absolutely minimal influence
from Murdoch. The only other possibility which comes; to mind is
that Heco's English was not considered to be a suitable model for
translation. and that it took someone like Murdoch to turn it into a
piece worthy of translation.
In this paper I would like to suggest that the former supposition
is true. that is that the translators assumed that Murdoch played little
if any part in the production of the • Narrative of a Japanese '. They
assumed that Joseph Heco's English was close enough to perfect, and
that assumption has continued almost unchallenged to this day. One
could say that it does not matter what the translators and scholars
think. so long as the end result is acceptable. We have to consider
Murdoch's reputation, however. He was not a man giv.en to seeking
fame; thus it is up to someone else to set the record straight.
It may be that the original impetus for this mistaken assumption
came in part .from Heco himself; Murdoch was probably to blame in
a sense. and thirdly the circulating rumours which held Heco's English
6) 1. a) Vol. I Kaikoku no Shitatari (A Drop in the Opening of the Country)
by Kyiicho Hijikata, 'Oshiisanshi' (pseud.) (Tokyo: Hakubunsha Nov. 5 1893)
b) Vol. II Kaikoku no Shitatari, Zokuhen (a continuation) Fujishima Chobin, tr., published together with Vol. I and corrected and edited by Yoshio Takeichi (Kyoto: Gloria Society, 1932), under the title of ' Kaikoku Ishi America Hiliozo Jijoden'.
2. America Hikozo Jiden 2 Vols., Nakagawa, Tsutomu, and Osamu Yamaguchi, trs., (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1964) This is the most accurate
translation of Murdoch's edited • Narrative '.
116
' ''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'
to be spotless must bear part of the blame.
Most people were probably in no position to judge whether Heco's
English was good or not. That he could speak English at all must
have raised him high in everyone's esteem, and who after all would
want to say otherwise? Besides, from all accounts, his English was
extremely fluentY People have a tendency, however, to believe what
they hear rather than the facts themselves, and in this case they have
overlooked the distinction between the spoken and the written word.
Heco himself seems to have been unwilling to show the original
t diaries ' to anyone apart from Oshiisanshi and Murdoch. He probably
directed people to the edited printed version. The reasons for this
will follow in a later paper. Further, Murdoch in his oft-quoted three
page introduction to the t Narrative' bequeathed us a casual, British
'it was nothing ' type of litotes.S) Murdoch often downplayed himself
and on occasion accused himself of laziness in his writings: "this t ere
bard is beastly, vilely, lazy ".9)
In addition to this the young Oshiisanshi's translation of this in
troduction probably became the source material for Takeichi shi's au
thoritative but misleading statement about Murdoch's role. Oshusanshi
translated Murdoch's Introduction thus:
���� •• �flfi������, ��8E*KE.�����.�
�*���Lt,:'f19HlUt-�� <, l1i�;:'iL�tJ:fflHt�mmL, ii�tJ:��
7) Dowding, P., Op. cit., pp. 15-18; see also' Narrative " Vol. I, p.280; in a recommendation letter to the Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the U. S. Navy, Thos. G. Cary says, "He speaks the English language fluently." Also see Takeichi Shi's introduction to Op. cit ., pp. 17-18.
8) Heco, J., Op. cit., James Murdoch's Intro., p. III: Nothing in the sense of Mr. Heco's, diary has been changed in the setting forth of his story. I have confined myself to condensing it, and to weaving as far as possible the disconnected items into a continuous narrative. For the first few chapters of Vol. I my responsibility ends with cutting out a quantity of irrelevant details, and with here and there recasting a paragraph. These chapters had been already prepared for publication when I took the matter in hand." (This seems to have been written before Vol. II was edited and thus bears no witness to the effort involved. There was nO Introduction to Vol. II.)
9) Miall, A., (pseud., Murdoch) Don Juan's Grandson in Japan, v. CLXVIII,
p. 75. (Tokyo: Hakubunsha, 1890)
1 17
Vol. 18. No. 3
§ ��1§.b�1! � m.3i: '""( '""(, iF1E-s 0 ¥g� t.1t L t.:.. � (J):l-j. '1:'S 0 0 g;f;*m ·-�(J)1JJ�.t�l*I-t ��(J).tHi, �t�l*IlIlF��*IB$�m � �'""(, ��Jt � z.�lE L t.:.. 0 v�1f-t 0 (J):l-j.o !I:tn £?ff(.vi, �iJt'*�z. A=F1:!" 0 tI.iW v�fUrr(J)�om*t�Ai L t.:.. Q t (J)'1:'S � 0 CMvH1ti±� r�OOZ�J p.3)
" In the process of publishing Mr. Heco's story, I have not in
.any way changed the meaning of the sentences written in the
diaries; I have only shortened the redundant passages, system
atized unconnected items as much as possible and changed it into
a consistent story. In particular my res�onsibi1ity regarding
the first few chapters of Vol. I has merely been to cut out the
parts with little relevance, and in some places I have modified the
phraseology. These several chapters were being prepared for
publication before I received the MSS."lO)
The corrector and editor of I Kaikoku' Ishi, America Hikozo Jijoden',
Takeichi Shi makes this sta temen t : .
�(!: :J)(J)��O) 1.J:l:vi '5iiJ�tJ: t (J)'1:', ��vim�lfU,' i1C:l-j..� "cJf�'""( t, �jj (J)��S � 7 � V 7J A t. � L t.:.. � �vi�iJ� "? t.:.. t (J) t. m-t� �
. '1:'� 00 �(J)�Jt§��(J)�Q� t, 3i:�tJ:��'1:', �n�X' - F ':/ � i . X�,,�St\,' '""( Lt =¥ � An � �:ttt!iJ� tJ: iJ� "? t.:.. t. � L -C 1..> � 0 (�m.1$
r � g � 7 • 1:: ::r §��MmJ p.17)
If We have to understand that his (Heco's) English ability is beyond
question; not only as regards conversation, but even in reading and writing there was no perceptible difference from that of any
. ordinary educated American. As in the case of his English au
tobiography, the English was excellent; Murdoch, who revised it,
indicates that there was no room for improvement."ll)
10) Hijikata, op. cit., p. 3 11) Ibid. (Intro.) p. 17 To say that Murdoch had nothing to do because
Heco's English was so good is bending the truth beyond the breaking point.
118
'. "Th.e Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'
Takeichi shi· goes on to describe all the independent witnesses
who testified at. one time or another to the power of Hec,O's English.
He himself, however, seems not to have read Heco's original writings.
And yet he mentions that Heco even wrote poems in his Engli�h diaries.
A reading of them reveals no formal poetry� though on occasion his
description of a country scene may approach a prose poem.
All further commentaries, save those of Mr. Tominaga of Tenri
Library (former Chief Librarian ) and Professor Sugiyama of Okayama
College of Commerce, accept Mr, Takeichi's statement. Maruzen says :
���.��������?�, �n*�-��p�.������
t�tJ�?t.::.i::. "'? 0 CJL�Elf.5e., m-�229J{)
H It was written in splendid English, and it is said that Murdoch,
the editor, found no place for correction."12)
This is poor tribute to Murdoch. Sakanishi and Takeda praise Heco's
English in glowing terms, but a protracted search for Murdoch's name
turns up nothing :
��i!!/j�v;::t�? �tJ� I?, H The Narrative of a Japanese" i::."'? J::.
T=����§��.��L-t.::.o ;:;h�iE*AtJ�.",t.::.���.¥,oc L
� �i, �i CO'J-C � � ��';f, ":> t.::.o Ctlfgg�1* f7,';c I} 7J��J p. 64)
VfEtflt����'� I? 1" I? c.'" �;f, � i -to ;:;h �W'CJV -e if�-r � ;:
i::. �i, � 0) ffl� 0)$B1m iJ��f�V;::.&t': C ,, ' ? ;: i::. �'-t 0 -tntJ� I? ��iJ� ��t� Iv �'� 0 t.::. < � JV;f, G s �� ? �tJ� I?, en ��? t-:.I? �",tJ�,
�G�v;::�i;: � ����? 0 -t�(Xv;::�i cb ?-��;tIl[L- � ...... (tlZIl9 �* r 7 ,;C I) 7J ��J p. 64-p. 65)
U After the beginning of Meiji,13) he wrote down for us an English
autobiography in 2 vols. called the . . Narrative of a Japanese ".
12) Maruzen Hyakunenshi, Vol. I. p. 229 (Tokyo: Maruzen K. K. 1980). (This article drawn to my attention by O. C. C. librarian, Mr. Fujii)
13) This is very vague. It was over thirty years after the beginning of Meiji that he wrote the Narrative.
119
Vol. 18. No.3
This was the first such book in English written by a Japanese .
. . . it is written smoothly in fluent English. Upon reading
this, the first thing we feel is how rich was the range of his
vocabulary, and how precise the expressions were. From out of
so many words, (he knew) which word to use, in one case using
this particular word, and in the next thinking the whole thing
over again . . .. "14)
There is no need to read further ; it is obvious they are making no
distinction between Heco and Murdoch, and Murdoch does �ot exist
to them. Mr. Kimura has this to say about the matter :
..".." ctJ:.'0t'::'�x-A;(· �- F�!J (James Murdock) t�{&.Lt.::.c�
6, Jt.�ir�jtt--r Q c � .0tJ:. L 1::. "', � -C, t.::.t':l:�O)�%tJ:.l�V��7tC7)
m��:hQx. t.::.tJ.?}, � C C7)"£"£ fUfiL t.::.o (*t-i� r E *Jt��Vft5f:.C7)
1i1f5eJ p. 136)
" When Heco gave the work of revision to the university profes
sor, James Murdock. (sic) later to become the author of that
great work, "History of Japan" in 3 vols., Murdoch said that
there was nothing in the script to perfect, so apart from trim
ming a few redundant passages, he published it as it was."1S)
Mr. Chikamori is closer to the truth in the sense that lacking
definite proof he takes a neutral stance. Although his book is in
other respects very thorough on Heco, there are' scant references to
Murdoch:
W-;-V717j] vi, �- t:'� ? iJtl::.::IC7)Jij{.��=F�A.;h" rtJt�." ..
-c" .. Q 0 (���:& r � 3 1! 7 • l::. ::I J p. 72)
14) "Nihon Ski Tanbo," Vol. 14, Kadokawa Shoten, "America Hikozo", by Sakanishi, Shiho, p.64 (Tokyo : Kadokawa, 1975)
15) Kimura, Tsuyoshi, CI Nicki Bei Bungaku Koryuski .no Kenkyu", p. 136
(Tokyo : Kobunsha, June 30 1982)
120
'''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'·
1:: ::7 O))Jj{�v;:' -:r - }:' 'Y ? jQt =F� An""( i c ?i;)t.::..o (j[[!l£I1#� r � s �
7 • 1::::7, p. 112)
"Murdoch touched up Heco's MS. and wrote the introduction to
the 'Narrative '."16)
" Murdoch touched up and organized Heco's MS."17)
He does not mention the quality of either Heco's or Murdoch's English,
nor to what extent Murdoch corrected the MSS.
Further, the authors of the most recent translation of the' Nar
rative ' fail not only to translate the introduction, but even to mention
Murdoch's name.1S)
Mr. Tominaga, writing more recently, takes a radically different
view, having seen Heco's original script in Tenri Library. He calls
Heco's English ' heibon ' (mediocre), also 'typical Japanese English'�
But perhaps he tends to hyperbole when he says that the' Narrative '
was:
�vi-:r- }:''Y?O) rrv7� -t/'J -C:' 1:: ::7O)tO)c�ia"'."'o)-C:'� Go (�7k!&:t: W7 � !J j] �� rr V7 � -l/� �*� �'?""(� p.105-
I �7�!J 7 J �-� 1949 ;R�*�lZJ�tflAji��)
" Actually it was Murdoch's 'Narrative ' ; it would be hard to
call it Heco's."19)
vVas it in fact Murdoch's narrative ? Was Heco's English' heibon '
as Mr. Tominaga has suggested? Exactly whose narrative was it ?
A glance at Heco's original English at once dismisses the notion
that it was so good that Murdoch had nothing to do. Murdoch had
a huge task, as can be discovered when retracing his footsteps.
16) Chikamori, Haruyoshi, "Joseph Hiko" p. 72 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, Dec. 1963)
17) Ibid., p. 112. 18) Nakagawa, T. and O. Yamaguchi, Op. cit.
1 9) Tominaga, Makita, " Amerika Hikozo • Narrative' Shohon 0 Megutte ", 'Biblia,' p. 105, Vol. 1., Tenri University Library (Tenri : Tenseki Gakkai Hakko, 1 949)
121
Vo1.18 No.3
But this does n ot mean that Heco's written English was poor by
any m ean s. On t he contrary, it was surprisingly broad, rich and deep,
full of natural American expressions and turns of phrase . It was not
great literature, but t here must be many native Americans alive today
who would be hard put to write something similar. From the com
ments o f his contemporaries it is most likely that his spoken English
was even better. That Heco even left a written record is a tribute
to his confidence in using English . John rvlan jiro kept his lips sealed,
and it is only through letters written to acquaintances and through
foreigners' observations that we co me to know he was afraid to ex
press himself openly.20) Perhaps fo r Heco his' diaries ' were a kind
of c oded reco rd, a histo ry of actual facts, a world where he alone could
enter, because few people could yet read English.
To get a 'feel ' of the type of English Heco used and Murdoch
had t o fac e we can choose a passage at random from Heco's diaries:
" Jany 11t h 1889 . . The Mikado and his wife were in doubleteem
car riage and acco mpanied by ministers of states who were all
in ca rriages. Had fireworks, 9 flags with p oles attached, Westeria,
Tigar, balls, horses, girls etc. in all 50 rockets sent.
Here a m ost peculiar occurrence took place which I saw it
close by - which was Hanabusa21) cam e in double horse car riage
on way ca stle - his betto, who pushed an old man (of 60) who
fell on the gravel and could not get up for some seconds which
he saw with side look, but without shimesu,22) but went on - and
20) E. g., Lt. Brooke, who commanded the Kanrin Maru with the first Japa
nese embassy to America, records in his log, (Feb. 22, 1860):
"Manjiro is often consulted by the Emperor and has aided the Amer
icans very much although from policy he has never approached our
minister at Yedo. He does not wish anything published which would be turned to his disadvantage by jealous Japanese . . . " Collected Documents of the Japanese Mission to America 1860 Vol. 5 Brooke Journals, George M. Brooke, Jr., Ed., Eiichi Kiyooka, tr. p.82 (Associa
tion for Japan-U. S. Amity & Trade Centennial, 1960) 21) Viscount, (Ito Shunsuke), Prime Minister of Japan and old friend of
Heco in Nagasaki before the restoration.
22) Without showing it. Double coded r Few people could read his diaries,
even fewer would understand Roman-lettered Japanese. On one occasion
he recorded seeing prostitutes in New York, but used the code word , baijo ' in the diary.
122
'''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'
the police saw that his man did it. but did nothing; because he
was higher official of the government, we supposed."23)
This' o ccurrence' does not, incidentally, appear in the 'Narrative',
having been cut either by the author or by Murdoch, though the first
part of the entry for January 11th, not quoted here, went into print.
As can be seen, the word order is generally all right, but there are
many faults in the punctuation and phrase junctions.
Sometimes one can see clearly that he is master of the key words
of unusual expressions, though he has not had enough exposure to
English for the c omplete expression to be fleshed out internally. Here
is one interesting example : It & (they) gathered everything possible get hand onto." This
sentence is missing the words 'they could' between t possible' and
, get', also the word' their 'between' get' and' hand', and the t s' is
missing from t hand ' .. The complete sentence should read, t & (they)
gathered everything possible they could get their hands onto', or
, they could possibly get their hands onto '.24)
GRAMMAR MISTAKES:
Listed below· are some of the typical mistakes that Heco makes
In his two MSS. First come errors in grammatical construction; fol
lowing these are some of the spelling mistakes which occur in his
diaries.
Heco has proble�s in these areas throughout his writings:
Past partici pIes
Conditional sentences
Singular and plural of nouns
I�direct speech (e. g. redundant question mark)
Irregular past tenses (e. g. t drinked ')
Phrasal verbs
Relative pronoun c onstructions
Sing. and plural of verbs (e. g. t we was')
23) MS. I. Large black bound diary 3, p. 183. (Tenri Univ. Library)
24) MS. II. Small Notebook 2, p. 3, line 7 ( 11 )
123
Vol. 18 No.3
Passives (e. g. � caused me to freightened')
Comparison of adjectives (e. g. � a biggest specemen', � high rank
than ')
The definite and indefinite article, (also � a ' . and 'an')
� during' instead of • while'
Confusion of the usages of 'like' (e. g. • he enjoyed it with much
likeness ')
lVlisuse of the phrase • no sooner had . . . than'
Redundant use of � it' (as in the � peculiar occurrence' incident
quoted above)
Distinction between � there' and' it' (e. g. ' there requires')
Prepositions (e. g. 'great on climbing')
Distinction between' little' and' a little'
Adjective order (e. g. 'red large lips')
Confusion of adjective endings (e. g. 'affected - affec ting')
Negatives after some verbs (e. g. 'dissuade not to do')
Lack of verb 'to be' after 'seem to' (e. g. '.he seems to tall') �almost' lacks the folJQwing 'all'. (e. g. '�lm�st· the people�.) .":'l'
Future tense with' going to' (e. g. 'what does he going to?') • a ' instead of 'one' (e. g. 'there is only a vessel there ')
Non-conform ity of tenses (e. g. 'your mistake in. attacking; and opposed ')
Adjectives, adverbs and nouns mixed (e. g. 'in gaily attire' 'a
well-behaviour man ').
There are also some special turns of phrase peculiar to Heco, such
as 'an owing to' which he often uses, also the word 'tho!'.
In one instance a small miss in syntax causes a big mis�nderstanding in Nagasaki; yet Heco never seems to hCilV� realized. that this was due in large part to his own ambiguity. He had been asked if he . ) . " .. could get permission for a Minister of the Prince of Hizen to visit an Amerkan man-of-war then in port. So he wrote a letter to a lieutenant on board who was a friend of his, including this s entence:
"I have been requested by one of the Cabinet Ministers of the . . ' . .. Prince of Hizen to inquire, and *he proposes to go on board tomor-
*My italics.
124
• "The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heeo or James Murdoch?'
.row if. your' Captain has no objection.25)
Joseph Heeo received a reply directly from the Captain himself:
" . • . If the' Prince of Hizen wishes to visit the ship, the Admiral
will be glad to receive him on board on Wednesday at one o'clock p. m."26)
To this Heco comments to himself ;
It When I received the above note, I noticed that the commander
mentioned a person whom I had never referred to in my note; ,but thinking that he might have misread my letter I thought it
was all right, and went straight to Motono and informed him of
the contents of the note, and saw the minister for the first time.
Both were quite pleased to wait for a few days and then go on
board and see the vessel.
But on the following day, when I got to my office, I found
a note which had come from the commander through a ship
chandler's chit-book. I �pened it and read as follow: - (sic)
Nagasaki, 22nd October, 1867.
Mr. J. Heco, .
Sir,- In your note of yesterday written to Lt. S . . . , of
this vessel, you stated that the Prince of Hizen desires to
come on board. Upon inquiry I am credibly informed' that
the Prince is not in town, and until the mistake made in
your note is explained, neither yourself nor your friends will
be ad'mitted on board.
Respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) "27)
There is no point in· following this through to its tangled conclusion,
but it can be seen that the peppery Captain's imagination has run rie>t
25) Heco, J., Op. cit., Vol. II, p. 103. (This incident occurred in 1867) 26) Ibid., p. 103.
27) Ibid., p. 104.
125
Vol. 18 No.3
all because of a clumsy anaphora. Heco spent days trying to track the
mistake back to the Captain, thus to extract an apology to clear his
own name, but the incident remained a baffling and unpleasant memory to him. lThree and a half pages of the' Narrative' are devoted to
this sub jec t.
SPELLING MISTAKES:
As far as spelling goes, his mistakes can be roughly broken down
into; - words of Negro or poor white influence, those bearing the
influence of his Japanese background, those stemming from a lack of
French or Latin study, malapropisms, typical ' Hecoisms ' (e. g. con
fusion of the letters 'i' and 'e '), words showing influence from his
commercial training, and more general plain spelling mistakes (including
proble ms with the doubling of consonants).
Probable (poor) Negro/poor liVhite:
, hole' (hold) , genises '
, shoke ' (shook) , clapse '
(geniuses) (collapse)
'choke' (chalk) , burrow' (borrow)
, set' (sit, sat) , criminate' (incriminate)
, strickly , (strictly) , grove, (groove)
'excaped' (escaped) 'borned' (born)J
, petty' (pity) , siezer ' (seizure)
, excussion ' (excursion) 'hep ache' (hip)
Japanese influence:
'Isumus' (Isthmus) (influence from kana 'su' in approximating
the 'th' sound)
'Fuiji' (Fiji) (influence from kana' hu', difficulty with' f' pronuncia-
tion; pronounced' Fuiji' in Japan today)
, creaking' (clicking) (problems with' l' and ' r')
, pouled ' (poured) (' l' & 'r ') also' fouled,' or 'filled '.
, crue' (clue) (-"-)
'Presbitalian' (Presbitarian) (- "' -)
· hairly foreigners' (hairy) (-"-)
'anniversal' (anniversary) (-"-)
126
, "The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'
'Real Admiral' (Rear)
• meagle ' (meagre)
Lack of French or Latin study :
(' I' & 'r')
(-"-)
'bureaux ' (bureau) F (retaining pI. 'x ' even in sing. use)
'facsimilar ' (facsimile) L. Fac (impv. of facere) + simile, to make
the like.28)
'Leitenant ' (Lieutenant) F. , Mongomery ' (Montgomery) F. • enveron of Yedo ' (environs) F. , suburd ' (suburb) L. Urb(s), city.
'belegerants ' (belligerants) L. Bellum, war.
Malapropisms:
. . . (a priest in his) 'surplus ' (surplice)
'court of arms '
'puddle steamer '
• alternately '
(coat of arms)
(paddle steamer)
(ultimately)
, Aide de Compte ' (Aide de Camp)
'we were already ' (all ready)
• legible & illegible ' (eligible & ineligible)
• topnut ' (topknot)
'burrow ' (borrow)
'studied with stars ' (studded)
'swallow-tale cook ' (swallow-tail coat) .
'has been cheque ' (checked)
'curios ' (curious)
Confusion of ' i' and' e' :
'i' shifted to 'e' • e' shifted to 'i' , specemen ' (specimen)
, freightened ' (frightened)
, wrenched ' (rinsed mouth)
, preist ' (priest)
, emense ' (immense) .
28) Random House Di;tionary.
127
, jitsoned ' (jettisoned)
, divil ' (devil)
'winded ' (wended)
'vixed ' (vexed)
'hight ' (height) : .....
Vol. 18 No.3
'i' shifted to t e'
I violen ' (violin) t guarden' (guardian)
'resque ' (risk)
I Vandebelt ' (Vanderbilt)
I previllege ' (privilege)
'enterview ' (in terview )
I entercourse ' (intercourse)
'desect , (dissect)
'begoted ' (bigoted)
'agetated , (agitated)
Commercial influence:
t e' shifted to t i'
• indiffinate' (indefinite)
, tribled ' (mixed, treble & tripled)
'squizze ' (squeeze)
I rebillion ' . (rebellion)
'cheque ' (v.) (check) (he was used to dealing with cheques)
. ideum ' (idiom) (obviously influenced by I idem ') I Aide de Compte ' (Camp) (probably thinking of t compte rendu '
and ' Le Com te ')
General spelling mistakes:
'star spangle banner' (spangled)
I cause' (clause)
'tidial waves' (tidal)
'paultoon ' (pantaloon) , creat ' (create)
'Philiadelphia' (Philadelphia)
• over shaped ' (oval) I Christainity' (Christianity)
• aceon '
'Tueseday ,
I scrab '
'hammacks'
, lightening'
• jocking ,
(ocean)
(Tuesday)
(scrub)
(hammocks)
(lightning)
(joking)
I grandier ' (grandieur)
I St. Francisco' (San Fr.)
'had or played Billard (billiards)
128
I insenseable' (insensible)
'beconed' (beckoned)
I past' (passed)
'tarpolin or tarperline ' (tarpaulin)
I horrah ' (horror)
'where ' (were)
, Illonia ' (Illinois)
t yayt ' (yacht)
I techinacall ' (technical)
I electro city , ( electrici ty)
'phsycion' (physician)
'openedly ' (openly) I coecive' (coercive)
'wriples' (ripples)
I hazzard' (hazard)
'bazzard' (bazaar)
''' The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'
�sucking wet ' (soaking)
� un vailing , ( un veiling)
� Empress dowdger' (dowager)
Problems with consonant doubling:
� criples ' ( cripples)
' canabels' ( cannibals)
� occassion ' (occasion)
' citty ' ( city)
' confussion' ( confusion)
� sq uals ' ( sq ualls )
'English' (to mean England,
or Englishman29»)
'snuzzing ' (snoozing)
6 shay' (shy)
, serverance ' (?)
I flittiness ' (?)
, begginning' (beginning)
'noded' (nodded)
'fogg' (fog)
'left of his writing ' (off)
'squated' (squatted)
etc.
Fro m the above we can see that he knows the words by ear and
was probably pronouncing them perfectly,29) but has problems when
it comes to putting pen to paper. He is particularly unclear about the
vowels ' a, e, i' and' u' which are only learnt by practice as they fol
low rio seemingly logical rule in English. After a mere two years of
education he had to leave school on account of his benefactor 's bank
ruptcy.
When all the mistakes are assembled they appear to be quite a lot,
but actually these are the siftings of more than a thousand pages of MS.
Had Joseph Heco worried about his mistakes, he would never have
achieved what he did. And it is important to remember that even
well-educated contemporary Americans had less than perfect spelling.
When John Manjiro had been rescued some ten years before Heco's
experience, Captain Whitfield of the American whaler' John Howland'
wrote in his log (1840):
II On a w haleing voyage.
Sunday, June 27th. this day light wind from S. E. the Isle in
sight at 1 p. m. sent in 2 boats to see if there was any turtle
29) Except ' 1 ' and' r' which still today , as with Heco 100 years ago, cause
difficulty for the Japanese.
129
Vol. 18 No.3
found 5 poor distre�ed people on the isle tuck thim of cold30) not
understand anything from them. more than that they was
hungry.H3l)
But Heco's English was solid, reliable, written in his own style; it
was a record of events, with no ascertainable audience in mind save
himself, or perhaps an imaginary, impartial reader, sane and possessing
a higher sense of, judgement. In general his observations are well
balanced, and one is struck by the maturity of his hand. Often one
can feel how upset he becomes in the face of unfair dealings, especially
when it comes to human relationships, money and politics. In such
cases he tends to record facts which will support a case against, or
criticism of, something which he finds distasteful. In this sense there
is an element of newspaper sensationalism - not too surprising when we
remember that he had produced the first private newspaper in Japan.32)
His diaries are packed with facts and figures, sometimes crossing
the border into the banal. This recording of minutiae must in part have
stemmed from his commercial training at Macondray & Co. in San
Francisco. In later years he records trips which p.e tqok along the
old T6kaido for pleasure, or to hot spring resorts for ,neuralgia etc.,
and he has left us details of his hotel bills, down to how many sen for
chadai. Most of these, details were removed, probably by Murdoch,
so that they do not appear in the printed' Narrative ' :
" At Takasaki station I met Dr. & Mrs. Hepburn, who has been to the Ikao, on account of neuralgia of the face,etc.
At Ikao-hotel The bill for the week as, follows. viz:-Hire of 8 & 6-two rooms '��dth all utensils- ¥ 5.00 (1st class) Two sets of Futon or beddings O. 77 Food, or provission, such as rice, soy',' oil, wood, coal, et.c.
, 7: 50 Fish, Eggs, fowls (?), etc. etc. 10.50 A servant's wages 0.70
30) 'tuck thim of �=' took them off 'I' cold '=' could'. 31) Nakahama, Toichiro, 'Nakahama Manjiro Den' p.30, (Tokyo: Tomiyama
Bo, 1936)
32) 'Kaigai Shimbun', circa 1864.
130
'''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'
Chadai (declined) & presents to servants & hotel people
0.70
¥ 25.17"33)
In his later years he also assembled, and thus bequeathed us, many
commercial account books, newspaper cuttings, memos, letters etc .
Murdoch's given task
This record34) Heco handed to James Murdoch, "sometime in the
spring of 1892 ",35) (three years after the first Meiji Constitution, and
two years before the Sino-Japanese war), with an exhortation to:
.. extract from them all that was of more than purely personal
interest, and if I deemed the excerpts so made worthy of being
made public, to see to the publication of the same."36)
Why did Heco choose Murdoch? This will be discussed in a future
paper, but among the many factors Murdoch's very different back
ground must have been one. Heco was Japanese-American, and Mur
doch was Euro-Australian. Their worlds were almost polar opposites,
but this � outside' quality in Murdoch must have aftracted Heco.
Murdoch must have had a shining reputation as a first-class.' scholar,
so he was someone that Heco could respect. It so happens also, that
they both had several interests in common; among them being con
nections with the world of journalism and a fondness for history. Mr.
Chikamori suggests that- it was discussions about history that led Heco
to hand over his MSS,37)
There are very few pages of Murdoch's edited MS. left in Tenri
University Library38) and most of these were not used for the t Narr
a tive " but it can 'be readily assumed that it was he who corrected all
of the above-mentioned gramma'r and spelling mistakes in Heco's MS.
33) MS. , 1. Large black bound notebook 3, p. 180 (1888) (Tenri, Op. cit.) 34) at least the thin end of the wedge, i. e. eight notebooks comprising ]\1S.
II. for the first half of Heco's writings�
35) Heco, J., Op. cit., (Intro., p. I, Murdoch.)
36) Ibid., (Intro. p.1., Murdoch) ,
37) Chikamori, H., Op. cit., p. 72.
38) Dowding, P., Op. cit., p.25.
131
Vol. 18 :\0. 3
Apart from grammar and spelling correction, 11urdoch actually
revamped and wrote out at least the 254 pages of Vol. II. of the ' Narr
ative' by hand.39) This must have been an enormous task. He had
to untangle Heco's constructions and then recompose them in more
elegant English. But, in so doing, Murdoch assures us that:
"Nothing in the sense of tvIr. Heco's diary has been changed in
the setting forth of his story."40)
Murdoch's stylistic influence In order to discuss rvlurdoch's role in the creation of the ' Narr
ative' it is necessary to distinguish between what is characteristically
Heco's style and that which is Murdoch's. But how is this to be done?
No one has yet been able to s tate with confidence, on reading the
'Narrative', whose composition was whose.
The period from 1888, when Murdoch first set foot in Japan, to
1892-3 when the' Narrative' was being type-set, was a time of enormous
literary activity for tviurdoch.41) Common themes and stylistic habits
appear throughout these writings; familiarization with these leads to
a clearer recognition of Murdoch's touches in the final printed 'Narr
ative of a Japanese '.
Murdoch's influence can be seen in the following ways, at least.
He started rewriting the ' Narrative ' with a young Western audience
in mind. At 36 years of age he was, inter alia, an ex-grammar school
headmaster with a particular view of and understanding for young
boys. At times we can see him writing dramatically with a typically
Scottish fascination for blood and intrigue. At other times he writes
with humour. There is evidence of Murdoch's scholarly background ,
in the discussions of religious and political history and in the use of
other languages. Also in the ' Narrative' can be found borrowings
from, or similarities with certain passages or phrases in his other
writings. There are many typical • Murdochisms '. There are faint
traces of his known racial views,42) but his famed agnosticism can be
39) Ibid., p.25.
40) Heco, J., ap. cit., In tro., p. 11. 41) See Sugiyama, Tamaki, .. James Murdoch(l) - A Bibliographical Study-."
(Okayama Shodai Rons6, Jan. 1983)
42) Sis sons, D., ap. cit., pp. 0020-0026.
132
'''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch?'
felt only hi a passive way.
We can find some of Murdoch's pet themes woven into the' Narr
ative ', and in some instances these threads can be pulled out whole.
Also in evidence are " certain disorders of style ... (which) are easily
forgiven in consideration of the author's perfect candour, and his skill
in unravelling . .. "43) of which Chamberlain accused him. And through
out there are persistent reminders of Murdoch's Scottishness.
All of the above are features which distinguish Murdoch's hand
from that of Heco.
As Tominaga44) and Sugiyama45) have pointed out, the detail- packed
first page of Heco's chronicle is missing in Murdoch's finished version.
This may appear radical or indeed brutal treatment, far beyond what
we were led to believe in the Introduction. Murdoch, however, had a
good sense for how to tell a story. This is, after all, a fascinating
tale of a young boy's adventures ; rather than start out therefore
with a long dry historical explanation, he chose to shelve it and in
troduce it little by little. This is certainly effective with children,
tha t is, to teach necessary facts by mixing them in with a story. It is rather like crushing up bitter medicine and mixing it into a spoonful
of strawberry jam! Indeed this is what he did, the contents being not
discarded, but rather rewoven into the' Narrative' further on.
This gives us a primary inkling that Murdoch's intended readers
were, at least for the beginning of the 'Narrative', to include the
young. 46) Phrases like" a few were sea-faring men "47) recall adventure
stories such as 'Treasure Island'. Reminders of the conditions of a
past civilization appeal more to youthful imagination:
" .. in these days the means of. communication and travel were
very different from the railways, steamers and telegraphs of
today, and the simple village folk seldom went .. ."48)
43) Chamberlain, Basil, Things Japanese, p. 62, (London: Kegan Paul, 1939) (pointed out to me by Mr. Sugiyama to whom I am indebted for countless kindnesses.)
44) Ope cit., p. 102. 45) Sugiyama, Tamaki, 'Joseph Heco Snoron', Okayama Shadai Ronsa, Vol. 4,
Nos. 1 & 2 combined, (Okayama Shadai Gakkai, 1969) 46) His 10 year old son was living with him at this time. 47) HecD, J., Ope cit. p. 2. 48) Ibid., p. 2.
133
Vol. 1 8 No. 3
:NIurdoch has introduced a measurin g stick usin g Mos c o w f r o m London
to illus trate the c o n s ciousness with whic h villa ge pe ople o f H e c o ' s area
must have rega rded a dis tant pla ce like Nagasaki.4 9 ) F r o m this we know
that Murdo c h m eant this book to be read a m o n g Westerners, p rimarily
B riti sh people. Heco himself does not seem to have given much
thought to the type of read e r o f his dia ries .
Sometimes after a d ive rting des c rip tive c o m ment there c o mes an
apology add ressed dir e c tly t o the reader, for having w a n d e r e d . This
is a charac teristic habit o f NIurdoch's , which can be found in s o m e of
his other w ritin gs, and leads one to identify the pa r ticula r c o m m ent
as o n e of IVlurd o c h's manufacturing . F o r exa m ple :
" But the r e ! Agai n the f risky jade's been tripping
And wan tonly m eande ring from the way.
I r eally must this wretc hed vice be nipp ing
l ' the bud , or she will ever thusly stray
From off the t rack . . . ; 0 )
I n the ' Nar ra tive ' the following passage IS obviously Murdo c h 's :
" To m e the excitement of being a t last fairly on my way into
that strange wo rld of which I had heard so much, was s o g r eat
that I can r ecall ever y little incident of the trip a t t his day, and
altho ugh they are trivial l ittle details w hich can be of n o in
terest to the general reader , I a m sur e that every one will have
much sy m pa thy with the youngster who was then taking his
plunge into the g r ea t o c ean of life . " 5 1 )
This is n o t Heco rew ritten, b u t pure Murdoch. In the descrjption of
Miya jima nea r the beg i nnin g of the ' Na r rative ' there are extra details
which ar e not eviden t in Heco's ]\;lSS. It could be that Murdo ch heard
them from Heco personally, but one is in clined to attribute them to
Murdoch himself if o nly f o r the reason that he apologizes afterwa rds.
49) Ibid . , p . 3, It is interesting to see how the Japanese translators have
laboured to turn this word for word into Japanese. This measuring
stick would surely c onfuse, rather than enlighten the average Japanese.
50) NIia 11 , A. Gp. cit . , p. 1 9, v . XLVIII. 5 1 ) H ec o, J. , Gp. cit, pp . 7-8.
1 34
, "The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch ? '
He has a slight tinge of guilt for not sticking to the letter of his intro
duction !
« I have wandered a way from my narrative and must now
return."52)
This device gradually disappears with the flow of events as the t Narrative ' . becomes a more generalized politico/historical account, growing
in detail, until towards the end of Vol. II it would be quite unpalatable for a child. This is one of the changes which occur in Murdoch as
he gradually falls in line with the general tone of Heco's chronicle.
That Murdoch had a horrible fascination with blood, war, plots
and dark dealings will not surprise anyone familiar with Scottish his
tory and literature ( the Border Ballads, MacBeth etc.) In I Sights and scenes on the Tokaido '53 ) he quotes a particularly
grisly paragraph from Kaempfer's t History of Japan ' about the I publick '
execution ground in Suzugaoka, then tops i t off with a comment of
his own :
<I For nearly three centuries its blood pits were forever moist
and soaking."54 )
This kind of language is not used by Heco but · appears in the
I Na rrative ' here and there, indicating Murdoch's hand. As an example
he recreates the assassination of Heco's former shipmate Dan who had been employed as a cook by Rutherford Alcock in the British
Embassy in Yedo :
« Shortly after the year set in, Dan, . . . had been cut down a t Takanawa, in t h e midst of the highway i n open daylight. He was helping some boys to fly their kites in the street about 4 p. m. Suddenly a man, with a great broad straw-hat down over his fac e ca�e behind him, plunged a cruelly.,.sharp dirk
52) Ibid., p. 16. 53) Ogawa, K., (photographer ) ' Sights and Scenes on the Tokaido with des
criptive text by James Murdoch, M. A., ( Yokohama Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd., May 1 1 , 1892 )
54) Ibid., plate VII (description)
135
Vol. 1 8 No. 3
into Dan's back, twisted it round in the wound to I mak sic car "
and ran off like a deer. Dan shouted for help and staggered
into the gate of the Consulate. After a few paces he fell with
the blood pouring from him in streams, and in a few minutes
life had left him."55)
In fact it is at times like this that Murdoch quits plodding along
and with a strange glee he enters into the drama of the situation,
elaborating way beyond Heco's record. Reading the I Narrative ' with
an eye out for this type of language will help one to recognize
Murdoch.
Murdoch's humour is mostly what might be called I dry ' in the
U. S. A., and hides among twists of phrases as irony, or as pun, but
examples of it in his other works lead us to discover his handiwork
in the I Narrative '. In the I Tokaido ' he refers to the fact that in
Japan it was the carpenter and not the shoemaker who traditionally
made wooden geta ;
It • • it is the carpenter that is responsible for your understand
ings."56)
In the middle of a serious description of Nikko there is a list of
revered objects contained in one of the temples there,. with one out
standing absurdity. Murdoch, like the child in the story of the I Em
peror,s New Clothes', could not force himself to respect that which is
not worthy :
.. inside the balustrade of this platform the chief objects are
those represented in plate XV ; to wit - the Drum Tower, the Bell
Tower, the moth-ea ten Corean Bell, and the Dutch Candelabrum."57)
Likewise in the very first paragraph of Vol. II of the I Narrative ' a
detail about the eagle ensign having been stolen from the gate of the
55) Heco , J., Ope cit., Vol. 1. pp. 236-7. � 56) Ogawa, K., Ope cit., plate XI (descr.) 57) Ogawa, K., The Nikko District, with descriptive text by James Murdoch,
M. A., plate XV (Yokohama : Gazette Press, May 1 9, 1893)
136
' ''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch ? '
American Embassy catches his fancy. He plays with bird images ;
these were not of Heco born !
<I August 4th. This morning the U. S. Consulate was found to
be minus its national coat-of-arms over the gateway. This se
emed to ruffle the worthy Consul very considerably. He at once
issued a notice offering a reward for information leading to the
apprehension and conviction of the thief who had been tampering
with Uncle Sam 's fowl-yard . . . "58)
He also liked the element of the bizarre in Heco's story of a cu
stoms officer who was reluctant to commit I hara-kiri'. To Westerners
peering from outside, this is interesting stuff ; to be given a glimpse
behind the mask of Japan and to see a recognizable, familiar and
welcome human trait being expressed, i. e. r eluctance in the face of
death. The irony in ' Happy Despatch ' is emphasized by Murdoch by
his of capital letters :
u It would seem that hara-kiri is an institution that is not always
appreciated by its victims as it should be. For instance, a local
custom-house officer detected . in aiding and abetting silk smugglers
exhibited the greatest reluctance to quit life by the Happy
Despatch some five days ago. In truth, we are given to under
stand that it needed all the combined eloquence of his house
hold and relatives and friends to induce him to take the step.
They surrounded him in his own house, urging and imploring
him to thus wash away his guilt, and to preserve the heredita ry
income and rank of his family, and, at last, after exhibiting th�
greatest reluctance, the smuggler allowed himself to be persuaded
to do the deed. But it was sorely against the grain."59)
One may wonder how much and in what way this is different from
Heco's original English. Here is the original version of the above pas
sage :
58) Heco, J., Ope cit., Vol. II, p. 1. 59) Ibid., Vol. II, p. 41 . (The italics in this paragraph are Murdoch's)
137
Vol . 1 8 �o. 3
" In t h e a f ternoon, it is re ported & confir med that a C. H. o fficer
r esid-at Ben t e n , Yoko : "'.\Tho was im plicated in the smugling Raw
silks int o Y okoha m a , against guild , without pa ying licence-had
c o m mitted Ha ra-kiri on the night of the 1 st. in s t : at his house.
The town talk said that he did not want t o d o Ha ra-kiri, but his
r elatives surr ounded him & make him to do i t , in o rde r to save
his hereditar y inc o m e for the family, & atone his g uilt, like t rue
Sam urai."60 )
Yes, Murd o c h has c e r tainly changed n o thing i n the sense of 1tlr . Heco's
diary, . . . but h e has c e r tainly en joyed himself in the d e c o ra tion !
And h e has done a g ood job in the p r o c ess. Mur d o c h eXJ: oses the
underlyin g human elements which are semi d o r mant in Heco's obser va
tions. This is jus t one exam ple ; there are many m o r e of these little
cameos, but unfor tunately this is not the m o m ent to quote all o f them.
James Ivlu r d o c h ' s schola rship manifests characteristically on oc
casion , but c o m pa r ed t o the tortuous flippan c y of earli er w ri tin g s like
' D on Juan ' and ' Lord Tennyson ' 6 1 ) o r the ethereal sc enic desc riptions
in Mr. Ogawa's p h o t o g raphic travelo gues, this time it is n o ticeably
subdued, indicating that he exer cised a modicum of self-restraint. There
are, for exam ple, supplementar y explanations about Buddhism and
Shin toism for the uninformed reader, which are s t r o n gly reminiscent
of those in the ' Scenes ' series . 6 2 )
Joseph H e c o w r o te out a sho r t back g round history of the 1\.1ikado,
the Shogun and the p r oble m s caused by the a r rival o f the f o r eigners,
which was dic tated to him by Hitotsubashi's doctor . It concerns the
c rucial yea r s 1 863-4 ; two extra-large pages of clo sely w ritten MS. in
Heco's hand can be found f olded inside the back c over of o n e of his
three diaries. Mur d o c h has rew ritten and expanded this to include
further detail. Proba bly his reading of Kaem pfer, G r i ffi s and Mitford
provided this j n f o r mation, as his quotations show that it did for the '47
Ronin s ' , the ' Hakone Distric t ' etc . ( Kaempfer is quo ted especially
60) Heeo's MS. I, large black bound n o tebook 2, p. 1 1 2 ( Tenr i )
6 1 ) Miall , A. , Op. cit. , (appended to ' Don Juan ' ) " Lord Tenny-n i n Jap an ".
62) Mention of the ' M on t o ' seet of Buddhism draws our eye in both the
, Tokaido ' , Plate XV, and the ' Narra tive ' p. 30.
138
' ''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heeo or James Murdoch ? '
lavishly, and his name even appears in the • Narrative ', though no
where can it be found in Heco's original diaries.63 ») Apart from the final
chunk of this history, Murdoch has put the whole expanded version
into the • Narrati ve ' on pages 46 to 52.
Whether by request or not, Murdoch has hidden his Latin lantern
under a bush for the time being, yet we know how much he loved this
language.64 ) We can find only brief mention of • ex-votos ' on Kompira
san, and not much else in Latin. Likewise there is no Greek in the
I Narrative " though both languages abound in other writings.
The Russian word I ukase ' creeps in, and there are several French
phrases which bear witness to Murdoch's time at the Sorbonne, e. g.
I raison d'etre " t coup de main " • coup d'etat ' and • mal de mer '. (We
know that Heco never studied French.) In ' Don Juan ' Bill Snooks,
the • hero ', finds himself suffering from seasickness in the English
Channel. He was · brought up to be a paragon of virtue, yet here he is
jn the same dire strait ( I) as everyone else on board. His complaint is :
tt It certainly was wrong that saints should share with sinners
in the throes of ma1-de-mer ! "65)
Heco's diary records his r eturn by ship from Kobe to Yokohama in
Feb. 1888. It states simply that there were six Provincial Governors
on the same boat and that there was a storm. Beyond a little name
dropping, Heco obviously had no further axe to grind. But Murdoch's
version has the pompous Governors being cut down to size by Nature :
.. Among the passengers I noticed no fewer than a round half
dozen of Provincial Governors, for none of whom mal de me'y
had the slightest respect ; sea-sickness being no great respecter
of dignities."66)
63) Heco, J., Op. cit., Vol. II, p. 189 " So my Banto and I . . . went to Kobe, even as our Japanese forefathers went in the time of Kaempfer."
64) A. M., (pseud.) • From Australia and Japan ', 7 novelettes, ( The Bear Hunt
on Fuji-San, p. 1 93, I I Truly a glorious thing is Latin, it is a high and
lofty privilege to be acquainted with it." Slightly tongue-in-cheek here.)
(Newcastle and London : Walter Scott Press, 1892)
65) Miall, A., Op. cit., p. 34, verse XCV:. 66) Heco, J., Op. cit., Vol. II, p . 243.
139
Vol. 18 No. 3
This shot was plainly hard to resist ; though, to be fair, if you examine
the language closely, you will find that Murdoch has not actually stated
that they were sea-sick.
Apart from this smattering of French, we find little or no evidence
for all the other languages, e. g. Portuguese, Spanish, German, and so
on, which he is said to have learned with such' amazing rapidity.
If there are few t foreign ' languages, there are on the other hand
many Scottish/English words, some of which lend to the ' Narrative'
an air of elegance, some of scholarship, and some of atmosphere. On
the other hand this has its dangers. Murdoch sometimes overstepped the line ; simple correction of mistakes and style is one thing, but
replacement of words of which he does not approve culturally is quite
another. He steps not on the Japanese, but on the American and the
human in Heco.
Tha t Heco never used such Scottish/English words in his text is
clear from a reading of his original diaries. Heco was never exposed
for any length of time to this kind of European language. Most of
the words which will be listed below in greater detail (e. g. ' dirk',
• twain ', t darkling ', etc.) make their appearance in • Ayame San',6?>
• Tales from Australia and Japan ' and so on, so there can be no doubt
that they came from Murdoch's quill.
For the sake of comparison, here is a list of typical sample words
usen by Heco and by Murdoch. A line indicates the word's correction,
i. e. its movement from Heco's to Murdoch's choice of word. A cross
shows a word which was taken out by Murdoch and does not appear
in print. Heco's words are broken down into three approximate cat
egories of : a) Natural, acceptable, expressive American (or slang),
b ) Language with no • class', gauche, and c) Universal English ; this
latter had to suffer ignominy at Murdoch's pen, for sometimes next
to no pretext.
Murdoch's language is broken into four main d�visions. a) Universal
English, (which, being universal, had little claim to superiority over
Heco's universal English), b) The type of English used mostly in Eng-
67) Murdoch, James, Ayame San, A Japanese Romance of the 23rd Year of NIeiji ( 1890), (London : Walter Scott, 1892)
140
, "The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch ? ' .
land, (though the border with Scotland is well nigh invisible), c) Scot
tish English (again, here, one has to rely on feeling generally), and
d) Biblical, literary, poetic or archaic English.
(This is not a definitive statement of word origins, and it · is open
to argument. In many cases it might have been better to have quoted
the whole context for each word ; as it is many people . will find this
table a little hard to follow, no doubt. Words or phrases appearing in
the top right quarter are simply a sample of the Narrative's vocabu
lary which are without question Murdoch's.)
It should be noted that many of Murdoch's corrections of Heco
are unnecessary, being merely six of one and half a dozen of the
other. This kind of thing must have been rather irritating for Heco,
tending to open the door for argument, and ultimately leading to a
breakdown of mutual trust and a questioning of earlier justified cor
rections.
Why does a dagger have to be a dirk ? Obviously to Murdoch
there were many similarities between old Scotland and old Japan, and
he has lifted the vocabulary of the one for the other. Therefore if he
once calls the Satsuma Han the • Satsuma Clan ', then it would naturally
follow that like true Scottish clansmen they should carry dirks. Within
such a frame ·of reference Murdoch could feel somewhat at home, and
we come to understand his hero worship of the 47 Ronin68 ) and of Saigo
Takamori.69) This also explains his love of, and poetic descriptions of.
the mountainous areas of Japan.
Murdoch not only corrected Heco's mistakes, he also interfered
with normal American or universal English. He definitely preferred
68) Ogawa, K., • Scenes from the Chiushingura and the Story 0/ the Forty
Seven Ronine' Descriptive text by James Murdoch, M. A. (Tokyo : Tsukiji Katsuban SeizQsho, Dec. 17, 1892). One can feel the reverence with which he attempts to tell the real story.
69) In Vol. II of the Narrative, where he had a free hand arranging newspaper clippings etc., he devotes six and a quarter pages of . fine type to the report in the Japan Mail of Saigo's uprising, pp. 216-222. He also wrote a 12 stanza poem in praise of Saigo Takamori which is included in • Don Juan's Grandson in Japan '. In the explanatory footnote he wrote, " Saigo Takamori is one of the finest and grandest figures to adorn the glowing pages of Japanese History." p. 62.
141
Co n tras ting TVord Usage of Heco and ��Iurdoch, and Murdoch's handling of Heco's voca bu lary.
JOSEPH HEe O I J AllIES NIURDOCH ---
1 . Accep table, n a tural , exp r e s s i v e A m erican Engl i sh , (and slan g )
m ighty lone ly belly ac h e
x
x fun ked out
set-------------------------�
done------------------------4
stuck h i s pan t s 111 - -- ------t h o ! x
I--
-;�iv er sal
I English
a la cr i t y
diarrhoea
clo tted
s i t , sat
did
Engl ish En gl i sh
sixpence
al l in a twinkling
saucy . . . . . . . . .
----------------- �tucked h i s t r ousers in gr i s ly gory
----------------- �carriages cars --------------------
sing ou t ------------------ . � call out fClg-end o f measles
n on ey
or
cleal' r ound
for love of 1
flavor, favor
labor, n e i ghb
honor, c olor ·
behavior -travel ed , tra veling
2 . Gauche
t iffen ---
chow
a feed
A . 1 .
O . K.
, I . :
x
x
x
x
-4 �
. __ ._-
�
all r ound
f or l ove or m on ey
d inn er . . umbrage
. . . . .
i t was t h e w on t
--flavou r , fav our
�la bour , n e ighbour
�h onou r , c ol onr
�behavi our
�travelled/-el l ing
. t iffin
.'. • :: � .. � t '
Sc o t t ish En gl ish
in very s o o t h .
mak sicc a r
. sau cy
run l ike a deer
l i k e sick chickens
Biblical , l i terary poetic , archaic
. in very sooth
odes
darkling
wax b old apace
set a-cla m ouring
g o a-missing
brea k a sund e r
clan s try t h e m e t tle o f t h e i r sw ord s
clan s m en m ore a n on
sh e w . . uncouth
. sh ew
....... (Xl
Z ? w
a la foreign x
a la European x
she ( the ship) cleaned her bottom
-
3. Hec o's Universal English
eat us up -
top sails -
serpent •
funny •
grain : -
exactly -
'hired •
refined -
roving - .
sails -
tea-chests •
bark •
port -
store-ship -
stiff wind
burden
clothed -+
- dagger
wash hands
dared
two -
kill
she was careened
devour us
royals
dragon
ludicrous
wheatfields
precisely
chartered
respectable
rambling
canvas
chests
barque
harbour
hulk
.rousing w ind . . . . . . . rousing wind -burthen
clad . . . . . . . . . . . . clad . . . . . . . . . . . . . clad . . . . . . . . . . clad
-dirk
-lustration
-durst . . . . . . . . . durst
-twain
-slay
Vol. 1 8 No. 3
the En glish spelling with ' u ', such as in ' favour ' ! ' Fred �Yilso n's Fa te '
con tains this passa ge :
" It was a1l over the question of a ' u ' m o r e o r less that the
deadly feud between Fred Wilson and old Symonds at first or ig
inated . . . . Now, being Engli sh, and high-toned Conservative at
that, h e insisted on spelling English in the old approved o r thodox
fa shion. So when Vlilson, in " subbing " his c o p y, c ut out all
the " u's " fr o m " favour ", " honour ", and so f o rth, there was
a deba tin g society o r tWO."70 )
Is it a sim ple coin ciden ce that the very sa me t w o words a p pear within
the sa m e sentence on page 46 of Vol. II of the Narrative ?
" Princ e Hitotsu-bashi has beco me quite a fa vourite with the ab ove
party and has been hono u red with the appointment of C o m mander
in-chief o f all the forces in Osaka ."7 1 )
(Could Murdoch have been wo rking o n t wo p r o jects at once ? )
T h e exam ple of ' pants ' i s interesting. When H e c o was picked u p
I n the Pacific by the American bark ( Murdoch, ' barque ' ) he desc ribed
the unusual dress of the foreigners. In one pla c e Heco would use the
word t pantaloon s ' and in another ' pants '. 11urdoch inva riably allo wed
t pantaloon s " but always changed t pants ' into the British t trouser s ',
because ' pants ' means under wear in Britain. Where Hec o noted the
Captain havin g " long boots into which he stuck his pants into it ", Mur
d och quickly decided that H long boots into which his tro use rs were
tucked " would b e fa r m o r e apropos .
And so Vol. I c ontinues from page 59 t o 86 with t pants ' changing
unerringly into t trousers ' until Heco's rescuers ' ship anchors in San
Francisco Bay. I m mediately, various boats draw up alongside car
rying eithe r workers or gentlemen. The stevedores wear cloth pantalo
ons and are rough and of common class. Heco reports on seeing t wo
men who :
70) From Aus tra lia and Japan, Op. cit . , p. 274. 7 1 ) He sticks to this sp elling to the end o f the Narrative ; whether out of
orthodoxy or out of regard for the orthodox reader cann ot be said.
1 44
' ' 'The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch ? '
.. dressed in flannel shirts and cloth pants, wore felt hats, &
suspenders across their shoulders to uphold ' their· pants."72)
At last the penny must have dropped ; Murdoch realized that pants
made of cloth and held up by suspenders must be the self-same pan
taloons that Heco was talking about, and thus quite different from
what he had imagined. For the first time, on page 86 of. the Narr
ative, he allows ' pants ' to go unchanged,
.. two men in flannel shirts, cloth pants, felt hats, and suspenders
over their shoulders to uphold their pan ts."
though he leaves his previous corrections up to page 86 all unchanged.
In other words Murdoch has recognized Heco's use of this word
for the first time, and has backed down. For a while the word had
been unacceptable, then Murdoch understood it in its proper setting.
Murdoch went through this same process with the American word
' car ' (in the meaning of that which is pulled by a locomotive). Heco
was relating his first train ride, from New York to Baltimore in 1853.
Reading the Narrative we can see the traces of Murdoch's contact
with this passage :
.. We left New York next morning at 7 o'clock. On the way to
the Depot he told me we were to ride in a car riage drawn by a
steam-engine, which could go at the rate of 25, 40, or even 60
miles an hour. This, of course, I set down as another story
told by the old gentleman to excite my wonder. However when
we got to the Depot I saw a number ot beautifully fitted ca r
riages with a steam-engine at their head. We took our seats in
one of those, and while we sat there the engine began to snort
and puff and the car to move. It moved slowly at first but
presently it sped along so rapidly that what we passed could
not be distinctly seen, while the train itself vibrated and undulated
like a snake chased in the water."73)
72) Heeo, J., Ope cit., Vol. II, p. 46. 73) Heeo, J" Ope cit., Vol. I, pp. 138-9.
145
Vol. 18 No. 3
This backing down is subtly evident throughout the Narrative.
The majority of Murdoch's explanations, asides and additions pre
sent themselves within the first few chapters of Vol. 1.74> There are
also whole passages which do not exist in the diaries, yet which could
not have been made up by the editor. The reminiscences of Heco's
stepfather concerning Commodore Biddle's first visit to Uraga in 1846,
found on pp. 33 & 34 of the Narrative are one example . This particular
story is likely to have come directly from the horse's (Heco's) mouth.
The young Hecotaro's walk around the sights of Yedo sou:nds at first like a total Murdoch composition, but one cannot be sure. " The
, first officer of the ' Eiriki Maru' one of the c rew and myself (Heco)
started out", is too real ; in all likelihood it is the descriptive ·and
decorative language which remind us of Murdoch.
The first day of the abov� walk took them from the Sumida River,
where they could ' see the castle in the distance, to ' the Temple of
Kannon in Asakusa. Gifford in t Ayame San ' took a jinrickshaw to
the castle, then to. Asakusa, to the Sumida and finally to the Temple
of Kannon. In the Narrative a distinctive feature of the temples in Yedo i s : It the huge pa rabolic sweep of their black tiled roofs."75) In t Ayame San ' Murdoch mentions the roof of the Temple of Kwannon
with its: I t huge pa rabolic sweep of somb re tiles."76)
The similarities are str�ing . an� one wonders exactly who got
his ideas from whom. This question arises in other places too. (Although Ayame San was published first it contains ' traces of Heco's Nar rative. ) Murdoch had on occasion been accused of plagiarism,7?)
but that again is another topic. ' .
The above mentioned backing-down is a two-fold process. At first
74) One can find them easily on pages 1, 8, 9, 10, 1 1 , 12, 1 3, 15, 16, 2 1 , 23, 27, 28, 30, 31 , 36, 37, 44, 45 and 46. Pure Murdoch are the threeliners in Vo1. II, p. 128, " And such is a fair sample of the way people of wealth travelled in old Japan, when the hours were of little .value and folk had really time, to· live." and p. 241 , " As the, .English play has it : ' The age is grown so picked that , the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls llis kibe." (Shaks. Hamlet V. l. 153)
75) Heco, J. Ope cit., Vo1. I. p. 28. 76) Ayame San, Ope cit., p. 262. 77) Sissons , D., Ope cit., p. 0061 .
146
I "The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch ? '
Murdoch is eager, full of spirit, radical and impetuous. ready to take
on Heco's story and to do as he likes with it, carte blanche. In this
we may detect an element of ego. Heco had probably used that time
honoured Japanese approach designed to get someone to do you a
favour. That is to say that you lower yourself, flatter the other person
and treat him to all kinds of attention until the balance of obligation
has swung far enough jn your own favour that it has now become
possible to ask a favour in return.
If so this would explain to some extent the gradual withdrawal of
Murdoch into the background as the Narrative proceeds. After initial
eagerness Murdoch seems to flag as he comes up against the steady
reliability of Heco's pen. He becomes content to confine himself to
simple correction of Heco's grammar and worst stylistic traits. His
effervescence, confidence and ego have become somewhat crushed as
he reads deeper and discovers the validity of Heco's writings.
In other words Murdoch begins to recognize Heco as one more
human-being, neither better nor worse. but simply very different in
background, m o od, outlook etc. Whether he liked Heco or , not is
difficult to say. but it is likely that he felt that he had bitten off more
than he could chew, especially when it came to Vol. II. He edited
this when he came back from his brief and rather fruitless trip to
Paraguay's New Australia in 1893/4.
Volume II is, as Mr. Tominaga has pointed out in Biblia78) , full of
material not to be found in Heco's diary, in large pa,rt newspaper
clippings. Conversely, large sections of Heco's travels around Japan
have been lopped off and appear either in highly condensed form, or
not at all. Sometimes Murdoch has cut out incidents which are fascina
ting today but must at that time have been too obvious to mention.
The diaries themselves are very confused in parts as Heco has
struggled to remember sections of his life where, for example, he
was settled, doing business in one place, and repeating things year by
year. It is difficult for him to distinguish exactly what hal>pened. and
when. Indeed one comment in Heco's hand in . the index for his third i ' • O r ' .
large black dia'ry, ' MS. I., states : I I the dates may be out . in .some
78) Biblia, Op. cit., p. 103.
147
Vol. 18 No. 3
instances." 79 )
Some of this confusion and doubling of events remains m the
Narrative and shows that Murdoch has not completely 'sorted it out
to everyone's satisfaction.sO) We may surmise either that he was in a hurry, that he did not notice repetitions, or that he was tired of
struggling to rearrange everything and gave up partway through the
editing process. Perhaps none of these are far from the mark. There
are places in his other writings, however, where he repeats himself,81 )
so it may be fair to say that this was one of his particular weaknes
ses, or blind spots. A child will often be unwilling to tidy up a room
after playing there.
Ultimately Joseph Heco had the final say over Murdoch's MSS.
There is at least one page of Murdoch's writing bearing small cor
rections in Heco's hand, extant in Tenri. There are also several MS.
pages of Murdoch's detailing ·' A History of Korean Affairs ", which
Murdoch must have put together from newspaper reports. Yet only
one brief paragraph appears in the finished Narrative.82)
Mr. Sissons mentions Murdoch's racial views, especially towards
the Chinese who at that time in history appeared to be taking over
certain areas of Australia. A search of the Narrative for this charac
teristic trait of Murdoch's reveals some racial slurs against the Chinese,
but these have come originally from Heco, from his unpleasant ex�
periences in Hong Kong : H Now the Chinese are a greedy and a
cringing race . . . " On other occasions, e. g. where Heco is crossing
the Pacific and mentions one passenger who : " got nightmares because
of 60 Chinese in steerage ",83 ) and where Heco approaches Canton for
sightseeing, but finds it H just as dirty as any Chinese city so I didn't
visit it,"84) Murdoch cuts them out altogether.
79) Tenri. Ope cit. 80) See Vo1. II, pp. 100 & 108, 142 & 143. 236-24l . 8 1 ) e . g. on the first couple o f pages o f ' Sights and Scenes on the Tokaido '.
Ope cit. Twice he mentions that the roads of old Japan were as busy as those of any European city ; this redundancy is not a rare find among his writings. '�
82) Heco. J .• Ope cit., Vol. II., pp. 232-3. 83) B. B. 2 (Black bound notebook 2) Tenri. Insert, p. 55, On board " Storm
King ". 84) Ibid., p. 57.
148
' ''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heeo or James Murdoch ? '
Likewise Heco had mixed feelings about his first sight of a black
man in San Francisco in 1851. The diary mentions seeing a strange
' object '. Murdoch expanded this idea and five times in the following
paragraph refers to the man as ' it ', not ' he ' : II Its black face and
white teeth and huge red lips . . . "85)
All we can really say about these incidents as they appear in the
Narrative is that Murdoch does on occasion climb briefly onto Heco's
bandwagon, but not with enough energy to make this a useful tool for
spotting his influence on the Narrative.
In much the same way, the agnosticism for which Murdoch was
well known is of little help in discovering his role in the creation of the
Narrative, save that there is a certain eagerness to explain Buddhist
and Shinto customs per see He may have been anti-clerical, but he
treats Heco's Christening into the Catholic faith with discreet neutrality,
carefully putting capital letters on ' Holy Water ' and so on. Many
places in his writings show that he was in fact a very spiritual person
potentially, rather it was sham and pretense that he disliked so much.
A quotation from ' Don Juan ' makes this clear :
" Again we badly want the Lord's Anointed
He'd choke with indignation . . .
Finding his pure religion quite a sell
In these times . . . "
The continuing poem suggests that if Christ went to England, he would
be put in prison for not having enough money with him ! 86 )
DISCUSSION
To get a feel for the quality of their relationship is a little difficult
after such a passage of time, and with such a meagre written record.
The tone of Murdoch's Introduction to the Narrative sugges ts
respect for, and a recommendation to read the book.
The only indication that their relationship was anything less than
cosy is the existence of very sharp comments which we find on the
85) Heeo, J., Ope cit., Vol. I, p. 90. 86) Miall, A., Op e cit., p. 27.
149
Vol. 1 8 Xo. 3
post-Narrative 1fSS. (cir ca 1894/58 7 ) . To be able to a c cuse so meone
of ' c o wa rdice ' i m plies that you kno w that person well enough to d o
so, and that you are s o assured of your p osition that you need n o t
beat about the b u s h . But these c o m ments m a y simply have been
the outwa r d manifestation of a day of inner frustration fo r Murdo ch.
Sometime s people were said to have reacted to the shar pness of his
tongue though he does not appear to have meant har m . The whole
snide, satirical, g o ssipy poem of Don Juan's G randson ends lamely with
the t w o lines :
" Poetry it ai ' n t, ' tis only chinking quacke ry :
Mistake m e n ot ; ' t is meant as Jodan bakari." ( a j oke only)
Bu t to wha t did Murd o c h rea c t so sha r ply in Heco ? If you m ean
to c ritic ize or a tta ck someone in prin t, you should either quo t e the
person's full name, or leave it out , he says, rather than put an initial
capital letter followed immediately by a blank. " I t is cowardly to
put the first letter and not the whole name. "88 )
A quick check of Mu rdoch's o wn "v o rk s catches hi m d o i n g the
very same thin g himself ! 8 9 )
But he had a t least one other secret device which may c ontain in
one in s ta n c e an indication of his feelin g f o r Heco. This was the an
agra m . As with Samuel Bu tle r, whose " Erewhon " spells ' n owhere'
when r e versed, Mu r d o c h loved to move letters ar ound, f orm ing fictional
nam es, u sually with some connec ting link to the o riginals .
Firs tly Murd o c h played with his o w n name, initials, and unive rsity
degree, eM. A. ) , als o wi th the names of his friends and rela tives, n o
tably tha t of his g randfather John ( ? ) Ma cD onal d . He often ap peared
in his o w n n ovels as the narra tor, using an alias .
Upon a r rival in Y okoha ma in 1888 he signed his na me a s M c D.
Murdo ch. M r . Sissons wa s relatively cer tain that this was Murdo ch90)
and in a r ecent paper Mr. Sugiya ma proves this with a personal histo ry
87) See Dowding, P. , Gp. cit. , p. 24. 88) Ibid . , p . 25 . 89) For example Don Juan is full o f them.
90) Sissons, D., Gp . cit . , p. 0024.
1 50
• "The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch M. A. ? '
of Murdoch's indicating that he did indeed enter Japan in May 188891 ) ;
and the only May docking date of the General Werder was the one with the above name on .the passenger list. (Sissons)
' From Australia and Japan ' was written under the pseudonym
A. M. eM. A. backwards). ' Don Juan's Grandson ' was written by A.
Miall. (My all ?) His mother being a MacDonald he was naturally the
son of ' the child of Donald " thus the grandson of Don (aId) . . . Don
Juan's grandson.
His writings reveal that he had a definite preference for a select
few letters of the alphabet when giving his stories characters and titles.
There are exceptions of course, but the sheer quantity of repetition
squashes coincidence and suggests also that Murdoch was eternally
writing about one great theme, and was trying to, or trying not to
express it in direct language.92) But by changing the names back again
we can get a pretty accurate view of Murdoch's life. He seems to have found faCt far more vivid than fiction and borrowed "ex'tensively from
real life for his plots.
Among the letters he favoured were ' M ' (Morrison, Manson, Marius,
Merton, Morton, Marian, Mick, Murray etc.) • A ' (Amy, Ayame,93 )
A. M., Armidis etc.) 'F' (Faustus, Fred, Frank, Felix, Fitz-Snooks, Francis
etc.) and t W '94 ) ( William, Wilson, Whitmore, Walker, Wooing of Webster
etc. ). • J ' figures frequently, and to a lesser extent ' H ', , S ' and ' P '. He quipped with Prime Minister Ito's name (thread) in Ayame
San, satirizing an episode that he is likely to have heard from Heco,
as it is a central theme of the Narrative.
It In the middle of the summer of t gO! there was an unusual
stir in political circles throughout the Empire of Japan. Tailor
Ito and his assistants, after a visit to Berlin to make personal
note of the latest fashi<?ns in Clothes Constitutional had come
back and set to work to contrive and cut out and stitch together
91) Sugiyama , T., Op. cit. , " James Murdoch ( 1 ) � A Bibliographica l Study-." 92) Being jilted and heartbroken in Scotland, etc. 93) Were Amy and Ayame the same person, and is A. M. another tribute
to this lady ? " Ah. my ! Ah, me ! " are sighs expressing lovesickness ; was he playing with these sounds ?
.
94) • W ' is an inverted • M ', and his father's name wa� ' William '.
151
Vol. 18 No. 3
a brand new suit for the Land of the Rising Sun. It was the
first outfit of the kind ever turned out in Asia . . . so when it
came to actually trying on the Jacob's-coat-like robes there was
excitement."95 )
Was this a small object lesson for Heco in how to satirize ? Now with
this kind of a disposition to be borne in mind, what should " we think
of the following lines which lie buried in the first novelette in � Tales
from Australia and Japan I, i. e. • Felix Holt Secundus ' ? The central
character is Will Hawkston, whose name is, shortly after being in
troduced, shortened to � Hawkie '. If we reverse the sounds 1:> : 1 and
l i : 1 the name Ihi : k:> : 1 appears. Was. this too an anagram, and could
Murdoch have been talking about Heco here ?
" For Hawkie ,had been my closest friend for the last twelve
months . . •
Among o ther things Hawkie ga ve me a few fat MS.. volumes
bound in black and closely packed with his own crabbed h ierogly
phics. For Hawkston's copy is with one exception the worst I
ever set ,eyes upon, and that exception is my own."
Hawkston (Heco?) then says :
,. Now there are some things I know o f that no one else does,
and it is just as well for the Cause - a capital C or course - that
someone should be able to use the knowledge if need be • • • .
There are other matters there besides that a re purely private . . . •
Bnt I'm without father o r mother, o r sister o r brother, • • •
and you may just as well have them as anyone else."
Murdoch's alias takes up the story :
I. Well I set to work on the -volumes as in duty bound, and found
them not at all unlike the earliest attempts at literature we pos
sess, in the variety of subjects : dealt with. They constituted a
so rt of diary where (I ' impressions " of. slums jostled with sarcastic
95) Ayame San, Ope cit., pp. 122-3.
1 52
• "The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch ? '
etchings of high life ; while eth ics and politics and economics were
mixed up together in a jumble that would have delighted the in
nermost heart of Moses or Confucius or of the authors of the
Laws of Manou. Then there were notes on the dodges of the capitalists . . . and scraps and figures that might have had some far
off connection with the integral Calculus or the Fourth Dimension.
Of course all this with the exception of the last item, was in
teresting."96 )
This is a very realistic view of Heco's diaries. There were among
other things, three fat MS. volumes, bound in black and packed with
� crabbed ' writings. Murdoch mentions in the introduction, it will be
remembered, that he was instructed to remove " all that was of more
than purely personal interest." Heco was without father or mother,
brothers or sisters. In fact everything fits, if the surrounding camou
flage of the story of Felix Holt Secundus is pared away. That being
so, we can presume that Murdoch's feelings about Heco and his diaries
are also to be seen here.
These I I some things I know of that no one else does " may refer
to secrets about Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi known only to Heco and
occasionally jotted down in the diaries. These do not appear in the
Narrative, for obvious reasons, but will be mentioned in a sequel to
this paper. One of them is probably the incident at the parade men
tioned earlier in this present paper. (pp. 118-119)
CONCLUSION
It has been the general assumption of many authorities, (apart
from Mr. Tominaga of Tenri and Mr. Sugiyama of Okayama Shodai)
that Joseph Heco's English was so good that James Murdoch's role
was minimal. This paper will have demonstrated, albeit somewhat
long-windedly, that this is far from true.
This is not to say that Heco's English was poor. It was very
good in the sense that it performed the necessary function of con
veying a whole lifetime of experience, in English, in a way that was
96) A. M., Gp. cit., (Felix Holt Secundus) pp. 9-11.
153
Vol. 18 'No. 3
understandable to anyone. Murdoch's English was naturally far better ;
far better in a scholastic sense than most people's .
Theirs was a symbiotic relationship ; Heco needed Murdoch to per
form a vital service, that of elevating the tone of his story so that it
might be universally accepted. and Murdoch must have learned a lot
,from Heco. Heco could speak English and feed the eager non-Japanese
speaking Murdoch with countless historical anecdotes. ( In 1892, Heco
was 53 and Murdoch only 36 years of age. )
The narrative in diary form was ninety to ninety-five percent
complete. The structure was built. There were some mistakes in
the fittings, and a large quantity of furnishings and materials were in " .
the yard, awaiting the touch of a designer to create a presentable
house. There were, besides, a quantity of cheap accessories here and
there which needed to be thrown out. " " Maybe' in this light Murdoch's rejection of words like t chow ' and
• A. 1: can be absolved, though there are obvious and unforgivable
examples where he has gone beyond simple correction of mistakes or
style.
Murdoch's wife had possibly committed suicide97 ) and he was liv
ing in Japan alone with his young son, writing copiously and planning
to migrate to Paraguay . It was under such circumstances that he
edited Vol. I .
Disillusionment in Pa"raguay and sunstroke brought him back in
1894, minus his son, to Japan where he edited Vol. II. Influences of
the conflicting forces around him are evident in the Narrative, but
there is a wonderfully deep, rich quality throughout,' something admirable, which is more easily sense'd in his actual handwriting .
We can see from his editing that he was generally mild and fo
"rehearing, and despite initial overconfidence, ego and occasional sharp
ness, he must have handed his MSS. humbly to Heco to do with as he
pleased .
Perhaps one day someone with enough time and energy will recreate the Narrative in a more all-inclusive and satisfactory form. But Murdoch undertook a,n immensely difficult task at a difflcult time
97) Sissons, D., Op. cit., p . . 0016.
154
' ''The Narrative of a Japanese" by Joseph Heco or James Murdoch ? '
personally, and must have found even his considerable powers taxed
by how to make the huge variety of materials appealing.
Murdoch has grasped excellently what Heco was trying to say in
MSS. I & 11., and rewritten it in very clear English. Even today it
makes extremely interesting reading, despite occasional typographical
errors, etc.
Scottish-English vies with American English, to describe a meeting
between America and Japan. The result is a pretty good compromise.
It is true that "nothing " (or very little) It in the sense of the original
MS. has been changed ".
Finally, to resolve the question in the title - whose narrative ? - it might be fair to say :
I t The Narrative of a Japanese " by Joseph Heco and James Mur
doch.
Reference :
Wright, Joseph. The English Dialect Dictionary, Oxford : 1898, reprinted
Tokyo (O.D.P. K.K.) 1 981 .
The Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Ed. Sir J . A . H.
Murray et. al. Oxford : 1 978.
155
1918 must have been an exac ting year for Murdoch. His wife** was still
in Japan winding up their affairs there. Besides his duties at Duntroon and the
University, he had additional work in Sydney supervising the teaching of the
language at the two high schools. He was living in two places - at Sydney from
Sunday to Wednesday and at Duntroon for the remainder of the week. (p. 70)
* two native speakers �i M. Kido c. M. Miyata -C-c:5 iJ , tj(O)f{o < ��� L "Clt ' G o
" For the University post Murdoch selected M. Kido ; for the high schools,
M. Miyata. Miyata (who succeeded Kido at the University in 1919) was
probably a former colleague of Murdoch's at Seventh High School, Kago
shima." (Sissons p. 70)
** 1tT�A�i-t.-O)�* - .A r "7 � 7 .r....YJJ. "? t-=-iJ� , Murdoch O)1E��i1ffllE , **-Cm,
IlcrJ EB:A� O)mv::.���-lt"C \, ,t-=-iJ� , :t:ff=Fl�V¥*J1g!}c.�O) IBJa-v::,�� , 1JB;f021� ij��
.JiIJ.O) t.::O?)HEyc.�-C�� Lko (aB�3z:T* � - F' y fJ J P. 1 07)
The University of Sydney v��-C�t1917:¥ Lecturer v� , 1 918if.WJft Profes
sor of Oriental Studies � t.r. '? t.::.. o 1 91 9:¥12}3 3 13 , Union Hall -c. � Inaugural
Lecture -C'vifif4 � L -C � -ij- Y.A !l !J 'Y r O) �A�±:5! Lt.::.. o Z�i�v� "Australia
Must Prepare : Japan, China, India, -Comparison and some Contrast.
-Inaugural Lecture, School of Oriental Studies, University of Sydney.
delivered in the Union Hall on December 3. 1919 " c L -C Angus & Ro
bertson 7J� i? llifftt c; :ht.::.. o
JlIW*1L+ME;bt rj;:�J (:kIE1 5:¥11}3 p. 171-p. 177) v� - mH� x. t.::.. Murdoch
;btlJt:�§t§ William Morris Hughes (1864-1952) iJ� i? 13 *v� OO-t � 1BtO)�Jl
�ii� � :hJ , r l3 �/ifJMJ v��-t � 1Bt��Jl t �� , $ k mx� L , "i t.::.. v�iJ:. O)ijc
!f.§}fI29�V� t f� � iJ:. vtt.::.. ':: � t.r. c: Sissom� vi � � �{Lfs:lW v� �a� L -C " " � o (p. 8l )
(p. 103)
it Murdoch and the D. M. 1." � Jllli L '1:5- �i Murdoch iJt*� Director of
Military Intelligence t.r. Q E. L. Piesse � � 3t� , :a� 0)3t� (�::1J�.� �t
Australian National Library v�f*ff c; :h-C\" � ) v��!k:h, Murdoch ;btM:�* ,
*t$�� c L -C �� t.r. Q �� � �-c'vi ts:.iJ:. '? t.::.. -ooiJtWl � -rVf i? :h -C V , Q o (Sis
sons p. 73-) Murdoch iJtJE��Htr t ., Jll�O)� 13 �7� L -C\" t.::.. ': c vi Chronicle Obituary
� ��JH� t :a;b:.:h -C \" Q ;bt , Sissons viiXO)�!l < ��-C\, ,, � o
68
James Murdoch
Murdoch was to leave for Japan at the end of September ( 1 921 ). By then,
however, he was suffering the last throes of cancer of the liver, the symptoms
of which had begun to appear about five months previously. He died at Sy
dney on October 30th. (p. 106)
II. James Murdoch �*"��
- � � 3t � -
C*Jt9=t�;:' 5 I m 1.... t.::. {, O) vt� < )
1900 NOTES MADE BY DR. IAN NISH FROM THE MORRISON PAPERS,
MITCHEL LIBRARY, on PROFESSOR JAMES MURDOCH
(ARCHIVES UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY)
1903 r -;" - r � ? .a:;O)�JffiJ (�rt , §J3ra36�10J1 16 8 , -f::; � +% :}L�1*��
tt) (p. 30-p. 31)
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'/** .a:;�tt� < S *0)$!fkJ�1i1f5e L t.:��--r: � � 0 ;itiliiO) ? �t:.�t �B �t:. fii.-t 0 i!!::t:.f&tJ: 0 rtli--r:jf, 0 0 !H:�O)*Jtt±�i-:t' - r !Y .? J'E;1;.iJt �:i!ttt:. 0 \- ' -C fifjiJ� 0 0 �, � < �t* l t;J JZJilH l lJ � k ;it�t\:aO)liM+�tm�J'E;1;.o)�t:.� ,,? -C�{±.a-J!tJvt l?:ht.:o
�fIH .:: ;h#1I;GtJ: 0 S *��1$?lfEtEO) ��rff:�$* - /v*** .a:; � fjk O),�t:'�-Crlt 0) �]zIit:'fmlt!J� Jtx. I? ;h t.:o
* Sir Erenest Mason Satow (1843-1929) 1895 iE S �� ** Basil Hall Chamberlain ( 1850-1 935) " Thing Japanese " (1890) 7J.��0)
69
13 * v::. 1*1-r � 1iJf5e.� � 0 *** J. C. Hall, H. B. M's Consul at Kobe (Murdoch t VOL. II � Preface �::.
J. C. Hall v::.W��� L L \" Q o)
1904 Lafcadio Hearn : Japan : an Interpretation
-I regret not having been able, in preparing this essay, to avail myself
of the very remarkable " History of Japan during the Century of Early
Foreign Intercourse ( l542-165 1 ) ,"-by James Murdoch and Isoh Yamagata,
which was published at Kobe last winter. This important work contains
much documentary material never before printed, and throws new light upon
the religious history of the period. The authors are inclined to believe that,
allowing for numerous apostasies, the total number of Christians in Japan
at no time much exceeded 300, 000 ; and the reasons given for this opinion,
if not conclusive, are at least very strong. Perhaps the most interesting
chapters are those dealing with the Machiavellian policy of Hideyoshi in his
attitude to the foreign religion and its .preachers, but there are few dull
pages in the book. Help to a correct understanding of the history of the
time is furnished by an excellent set of maps, showing the distribution of
the great fiefs and the political partition of the country before and aft�r. the
establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Not the least merit of the work
is its absolute freedom from religious bias of any sort.
A HISTORY OF JAPAN VOL. II v;:.xt-r o Ji�O)If: § -r� � lXfI."C' as o o Japan : an Interpretation O) *� Bibliographical Notes 0) m:�t;:. tx: "? "'c\, '\
0 0 Hearn �t .:. O)iI¥,oO) ttl 0 1itr1f.. 19041f.� Lt..:o � "? -C �t;:. ttl t..: A HISTORY
OF JAPAN VOL. I � VOL. III �iJ!-C � \ tJ: � \o
1905 Basil Hall : Chamberlain : Thing Japanese
" HISTORY OF JAPAN, three volumes, by J. Murdoch. Based on a cri
tical study of the original documents in nine languages, this unique work
carries the story from mythical beginnings down to the fall of the ancien
regime in 1867. Certain disorders of style, which alone mar this series of
vivid pictures are easily forgiven in �onsideration of the author's perfect
candour and of hi� skill in unravelling tangled skeins and in rendering his
re-constructions interesting. The task was one of unusual diffiGulty, because
here, more than anywhere else, it is necessary to listen at back doors, to
70
James Murdoch
peep through conventional fences, and to sift native evidenc e in the light of
foreign testimony. (p. 60-p. 61 )
Chamberlain rJ) ::" C �i J�!H(. 5 Im L k. r��J v(. �l.H,*1i+m t ." , -C " , � iJ� ,
Murdoch v'l k rJ) A HISTORY OF JAPAN, VOL. I I fJ) Preface rJ) � :aJ{v(. t t I have to thank Professor B. H. Chamberlain . . . " c. . � tfj L -C � k tJ:.Jf:
��fff� L t.: ::" C v(.X'-f L -C���� L -C J... '�0 ti Thing Japanese " rJ) :mJt1Rv'l1890
��' A HISTORY OF JAPAN VOL. II J: � 3 1f.vfiJ� � If.J... ' 0 t t A HISTORY
. OF JAPAN. three volumes, . . . " c. cb �fJf� J!:h�fm=Jt1R (l 898�) iJ�� " ' �'l
!J! V(. �:h J: � � V(.. � JE � :h t.::. t fJ) G L " , 0
1911 (§Jjffl44�) 3 )1 14 8 ft , il:fi J: � �E8*t�� viiJt � 0 G�15�� , iWC.M
� p. 43)
1 911 (§Jj ffl44�) 6 )1 14 B ft, �:fi J: 9 !Jrl3j�Jlj�.$o (il15�� , m.$�. p. 699)
1-:;>' - tt y 'l' 7'e�EJ1�0)7'e�t':o iIT�--c- t )libv::.Jr��U '? L \" �d]� L I? Ato �IEA t
� At ts:.Afft': c ta.t':;O�· · · · · ' o J
1" '4-g(O):IIge-e�i��� '? < � 1..- t.:o " ' -:;>' - tt y 'l' jt�EJi�*t': l? ? c }i!:, ? o t L
� '? t.: I? �fx:\" '? L < n:K-"Jo
1918 Extract from Senate minutes of 19 August 1918
Mr. J. Murdoch-Lecturer in Japanese
(ARCHIVES UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY)
1918 Extract from the Report of the Senate of the University of Sydney
for 1917 (Calendar 1918, p. 615/616)
Lectureship in Japanese
Chair of Oriental Studies
(ARCHIVES UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY)
71
1 921 JAldES :MURDOCH AND TH E CHAIR OF ORIENTAL STUDIES
(ARCHIVES UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY)
1 925 llHI%1i-t:ttt i � � F' /' � )E;�O) B *tlt� J CS4m*L� I I p. 4-p. 8 )
" A HISTORY OF JAPAN VOL. III iJ� London iJ · G ill Q 1Wf;:.lfiJ·tLk.Jt�
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72
"'( \.. .... � o
1961 The Registrary, The University of Sydney
JAMES MURDOCH
James Murdoch
(ARCHIVES UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY)
1963 if�!1I� r :/ a -t!: 7 · � =z.1iJf�J (ag;ftJ=+i\�+ J1 ) (Jjf�mJiinJ) ru The Nar
rative of a Japanese " 0) 1tI�, -=l' - J-:' ')I � 0) � � J (p. 25-p. 32) I I JAMES
MURDOCH " (B. F.) �:. .t � Murdoch O) ��o
1975 SOME ANNALS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY 1850-1975
(The University of Sydney, 1975)
1982 Piers H. T. Dowding : u The Narrative of a Japanese " by Josep Heco
or James Murdoch.
� :l (.tllE��) 0) § .J.ij(m � -=l' - J-:' ')I ? tJt =t- � A h "( II� L t.: flJ* The
Narrative of a Japanese � O)ft� t.s::lt��� O)�*O)¥fl� (r:o::kfnB. �18�
3 �)
III. r� Q � fJ\ 6 �· Q AJ--James Murdoch
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73
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William Adams . . . 0) �"" t-.: =f*�tJ� 4- 13 t +�Ji � "0 L "' < 0 0 , , ' ""7 - r y J ri±* 0) � B *5::� (A Hi stor y of Japan ) 0) �=�vc�Ji 5 I ffl 1-- -C Jb Q o (p . 1 87)
"7 � ""7 - r ';/ !J (James Murdock ) , 1 856-1 92 1 . ±� i B *IN:.9:.J A History o f Japan
_!g, �=� vi [lj1��:n.+:m c 3t�) vi A ::r ';/ l- '7 / r-'E:h O) p ""7 / 7 y j7 tJ.: ¥$i--r:Jb "0 t.:.. o
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r:lil:iR O) �[ill r�w�13(-C:vi " ' W3 ¥6=+-t�v:::' vt 7 - r y j7 tJ�*L , [ill'¥r�'* "':l c CiD · · · J (p . 408)
r)i-A�gffi O) J 'b V:::' vt , fb:t�v:::':sL "0 t.:..��v;=- B *O)XW3 c lJ 'xft�Wtj-E 1-- L -f: 0) -j"- (':h t.:..$;*�w7}v:::. m1r 1-- t.:.. t o) t ytJ.: < tJ.: \' ' 0 • • • W B *nt;l:::� 0) " - p' ':/ j7 . . . J (p . 4 1 1 )
C*�P 5 [ m �J
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t " the late Ja mes Murdo ch, ivI . A." � cb � 0 *1�-��+13(J t lEiitc' vi td:
74
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,,'
James Murdoch
< , ���t r�-��q:t��J -C'0 '? t::.o *f ::k7}·�q:t$q:t��J �t ��*t5ff:tE L
-c " , ts:.7J" '? t::.o Murdoch vr) lmf@j:tEff:�:t *rlmif.il-'l'J c " ' ? J: lJ r=if.�J c \,. ' '?
t::.jj7J� J: lJ lE?it -C' c.b Q 0
D. C. S. Si�sons �tll0Jn�:&��vr) �lflfJtvr) �mt�,
Five years ago I should have said that there was no need for an article
on Murdoch-that his three-volume History of Japam and his association with
William Lane's ' New Australia ' colony in Paraguay alone were a sufficient
guarantee against oblivion. But in 1 977 the Japan Foundation printed a review
of Japanese studies in Australia in which Murdoch received no mention.1)
1. Japan Foundation News Letter (Tokyo), vol. V. No. 1 (April 1 977), p. 12
According to this review, the Department of Oriental Studies (to which Mur
doch was appointed in 1918) was ' founded ' in 1 922 by Arthur Sadler (Mur- .
doch's successor) ! .
c L -C "" , Q 0 .:: vr) IJ'\�"e�t , Murdoch ?iJf5evt*t':*lm1E vr) 7}!f7J�� < , /G§fj vr) ,�
t � < ts:. " \7Jt , B *�� L , B *�mM L , B * vr)$i1n�� < L , B �Jt1��VfEvr) 7J"rrfi c ts:. '? t.: , Murdoch �t B *A v� c -? --cz Q ""7J" � �' Q l§l-A vr) -A -C'0 Q '::
c � �"" -C , .:: O)m�M t: Q o
tJft )I-II . James Murdoch �*4��flR�
1 91 9if. C::klE 8 1f:) * EH �fX.a� [f'Prof. Murdoch c �i1+I vr) B *1iJf5e�
1!f�Wif. VOL. XL-No. 9 C::klE 8 if. 2 }j )
�-fX ::k�� O) m� �� c Sydney University v� :to vt Q B *?iJf5e O) .:: c �
�"'" Murdoch O)�mU�1:ff:, =Avr) *�A$igffi1':g�O) .:: c , == 0) Preparatory
Schools Cf@j��13t) �O) B *8�$Avr) ,:: c v� .bn -C " ' Q o Murdoch 0)1:3L't:>�
��]$:.r{t,:9=rv� 'J'\I/Ii.fX.a�O)tl�-c' *$9=r�V� 1!f��;fk*- t.: ':: J:: ��.r{, -t o)�
.v�"?" \ --C rl A History of Japan �J&J:.Vf-t O)�=�vlR!Ev�.$l. L , the last
volume O) §ij �� vl*f*Q)JJl�7J�R!Ev� lli *J:. -? --C " \ 0 .:: J:: �Jm.r{ -C " \ Q 0 Murdoch
:tE-fit9=r0)�* C L -c f!(�tJ: " 'Jf;fSl-O)-"?"'C'c.b Q 0
75
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icle C) dc* n " S = J� iI,EUE S f � � v::' � n "h t-=: t � -e elS 9 0 "7 ...-
r · · · · · ·:c � ��� �H?I H=-� L -C * 9 -t-A � J:. 1D v::' 1$P � p / � 7 � • -V :/ f � iJ�
r ? p ::::.. ? Iv l tJ£J:: v::. 0v::, L t-=: The Late James Murdoch � -� vi1J1�� )ttaJm
tcC :t�� U -C iEli�� � -� � ;%Z L t-=: t � -ew� 9 t4t � c'TIfi S l ' 0 UTIDi < � vi� L � � tj;ir H=-J@ �' tcC t , o � e elS � Chronicle Obituary (C. 0.) � fj;� c' elS 9 0
n� i �ffil*{£-lj- 7 • ? P * F' · � !J � T lv � iJ\IJt 71 � � �rQ' L t-=: a:f � 7 F' � ?
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1t1l � v::' Murdoch � �M ��� L , 1 91 6if· (xIE 5 if.) 1i[9c � � �JiS' n " S +- ;:r: :/
/ � v :/ � ��;J:Xv::' ': t-=: *- k � - F' � !J � ��iJ�j1jID{ L -C mfr � h -C 'v ' � o 1DZ � �� e m�o t-JFfn� 5 n " n� *- -C iID s l '
0 1tr +�A � ': e � 1";A ;t; - -tf J e rr¥� c' elS 9 0
r�:t= �rs' f:M ill3ff:H·5ijH1Q: S i-d, lf tcC � i -U:-� C' L t-=: o :m ;H ;A -� il' � c'lDZ.fi vi t� l ' tcC
L e tcC i) , 'ilBlt viMf*-cf, �:z.A U : c!0 � i {t� c' L t-=:o 11t L B *� � � =� vi7t T -t
� .: e n: c' � i L t-=:o 1 91 5� 4 A v::, viJ1[9c � iJ " S �M c'40�ID � w* � $;;fp;=t v::.f!z*
v::.rr � i L t-=:o ¥v=- * '/ :/ � :to � c', f� � fI;ffiJHi-t <" v::" I�� L i L t-=:o A� vitr�
f;f� 1 \" .: e n�b n " � i L t-=:o �' < e t tit:W � Jtp� c' t� t �v::' jim-A c tcC 9 i L
t-=: o J] �*4 � y tcC l ' $1!J$a:ff\; � .: e � § S 8ft � -C l ' -C OO S l ' 0
n'F-&, 7 1/ :/ · 7 :/ F' • 7 :/ ij' -1 :/ n � S l±\1lR� jJ� L k §' � ?ii� iJ� elS 9 i L
k o -t- � \' , 5 FJT �::' J: � c =--t1l.7Jf\.�-Mtc'/\sE9-t/\Jl c tcC � , ;f� O) � � T L t-=:=
�r=pJ&*� t � e tcC � j: -to tL ' t 4'-IIilOC��iJ� c' � t-=: S -fffi-t ('.7Jv::, :to }ZS � -t �
76
James Murdoch
J: ? v:::.{t(itO) =F*J£�.\' ' t.:fjf-ei" o � C 8 *M� �=�O) lliJliO) � c �:::. �!R;h, '"( \" � tJt, � 0)�=�v1�v:::.{}t0)1:ff:* v1lli#i � ;h,tJ: \" -e� ",? t.:o
1959� (w,gfD34�) jdR1¥i r 'J'7'R/\�0) �;m� t.: 'b� :5€�w� (October 1 . 1959 VOL. CV-No . 10)
'J'fj�j\�O) 1&;m� c L ,"( James Murdoch c Reginald Horace Blyth O)=A
O) :g iWtJt��f l? ;h, '"( \" � o �T�O) � ;S b t.: L viXiJ� 1? r A /v r � !J � IvJ v:::.� ,? t.:}�\' \ lli ��OOtJ� � ;h,t.: ::: c tJt � � o L tJ � L 1894�tJ� 1? 98� � -c'Im�r�', rm��� c L -C 4:tR �;:,\" t.:.:z.- O) r A /v F' � !l J tJt�:q O) r� l':' � !J 7'e1:J .:z.- O) A-c'� Q , �
� -c' r 8 *�J �.\, ' t.: :: c vi, 18 !m�it.-c' r 8 *�J O)m4m�J! � � -c'rrW�tJ:
tJt I?, b t.::. L vi��;:' t �D I? tJ: tJ� '? t.: o � C � � o
1963� Kenneth Strong : Japanese Studies in Sydney
(KBS BULLETIN ON JAPANESE CULTURE, November-December 1963)
Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai (The Society for International Cultural Rela-
tions)
'Y' r '=' - v;:':jo� � 8 *1iJf� vi1918� (Murdoch tJt 'Y' F' '=' - *�-C' 1JJ�0) 8 *� �t�H:::. tJ:: '? t.:�) v:::.M:l � � c L It Murdoch became the first Professor of the
language Ci. e. Japanese) in any country of the British Commonwealth." c
L '"(\" G o Murduch O) :1.n:::. J: Q high school level �;:. <h 8 *�tJt¥JA � ;h,t.::. :: C
�Jffi� Miyata Sensei �:::. t a hZ.tJt� � o
.. During this long residence in Tokyo, Kumamoto and other Japanese
cities, Murdoch earned his living as journalist, editor, novelitst, and teacher
of hiatory, English, according to some accounts, of Japanese - while devoting
his main energies to the study of the Japanese and Chinese, ethnology,
and comparative religion - a labour of love which eventually bore in the
' History of Japan ' by which he is especially rmembered, the first major
work of its kind in English . . . "
*� Kenneth Strong �i 'Y' r .::. - *�*JF�$�� -c'19571p J: Q 1962� i 1:*
77
5t.!xr-}(:�c'1!J:.fz. t.::.. :::" c <L 0 � 0 "K u ma mo to " O) !WJ;�\- ' �i�U c L -C -{- O) g2}ffi vilE {i'i-c' fB1�Ht":) J: < , �t-tl¥J{iffif@[ <L � \- ' v�j={iJ G f'fiiJj1& iJ�tE*O) Wf�� O) § v� ��.h tJ: iJ:. -? t.::.. o ( :::.. O) � D . C . S . Sisson s O) tif� v� J: 0 0)
1 967� (�fP42�) Tatsu maro T ezuka : Jam es Murdo ch, Ja m es M. Dixon and Other Occidental T eachers who Tau ght English and English Lit erat u r e to
Soseki Natsu m e .
Tokyo 11unicipal N ews 1 6 ( 6 ) . ag5fp42 . 2
Z Lt r'§'Jl: � " A Suppli m ent to TOKYO MUNICIPAL NEWS, 1 967 0) THE
INTRODUCTION OF W ESTERN C ULTURE INTO JAPAN IN THE AGE
OF HER 1-10DERNIZATION " V:. " SOSEKI NATSUME'S TEACHER IN
ENGLISH-Ja m es Mu rdoch and James Dixon- c L -C �jil � n -C \- \ 0 0 $� v� �i Hist o r i o g r opher, Tokyo IVI e t r o p olitan His t o rio g r o phy Institute c IDtljJjiJ�
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';J !J c :/ ::r:. l' A :A • T' -1 !J 'J :/ � r=p I�\ C L --C --
=F��fMu��5t. O) mJ 321 � (���m, ag5fp43�) 0) r=p 0)�� ( p . 337-p. 346)
Murdoch vt i*,�n v� vt <b -? c t r:P*�\- \7f-Afb:gm t� -? t.::.. c L u ""'< � F' ';J !J � A, vt ri 0) :5t� t�o 1!fOOA <b 210 A, t£: /,Ji iJ � � t� c I- \ \, \ A, i� iJ': o � c I- \ 5 if}:n 0) § �� � 1m L, �n O) t�±�E¥)N c -t ;tl. � Murdoch iJ� � m o ral backbone iJ� 2l0 0 illEMc' §
:±l It l \ j c �E¥�to < G n t.::.. :::.. c � r=pI�\ V� NIurdoch 0) Am c -:C- O) �M O) **i��
1 980� (ag5f1 1 55i:j::.) � J I I W" 5t:. U -E' - A 7" • ""'< � F' ';/ !J )t;� 0) .: C::. -- i- - :A � =j !J 7 v� to vt 0 B *3�$'!J:.1fvt :::.. 0) AiJ� G ft5 i -? t.::..-- � U 7� � IZU:MI Qua rterly No. 28 *�� 1" :::.. c vi� 06 (' -? -CJ X1r.¥t:it'-t±H0Z: KK
�� (tBE*mmI*�t&rzo 1 979i:j::. 7" !J :A � Y j'ltSL*�C' B *gfr • B *X1r.� �fz. ,
78
James Murdoch
;;t - A r =:7 V 7 �:.M:tCb -C E *� . E *Jt1t.�*B1i' L t-: -;>' - F' � ? ���*�1i:;t *"
A r =:7 V -vfriftEl=J:lv:'k O) Jif4O) j{)t��� "-::> c Cb t-:o S. Stephenson : Annals of the
Brisbane Grammar School (1869-1 922) � *B1i' L 1 8851f.iJ� 1? 88�v:'� 0 1mra'0)
Second Master c L -C Jam es Murdoch O) � iJt lli '"C ;t;) � , k O) .:b c V;:. M. A.
(Aberdeen ; Camb. ; Paris ; and Gottingen) c £6 0 .:. c �isE L '"C £6 0 iJ� Camb.
O) �-c'.:b 0 ':' c v:' vi�!kh '"C t� � ' 0 �:fj O)�tL�]H� IifJ � ' '"C Murdoch iJt=,,-::> O)mm
� .:bv-f -C kh �.� � o) =¥*���I. , t-: .:. c v:.�!kh, i t-:if(:fj O) rt:f±rR'l! c -;>' - r
� !J 7'G� c �J tJ� I? -;>' - F' � ? 0) J.\�� L 0) �i--t-frJ � 5 1J§ L -C W .:. ? I. ' ? �-. �
7 �l¥J�� � • ��1'F�i, b t-: L v:' vit-: i I? t� � '�:1J -C'£6 0 tJt, )'e v:. .:b v-ft-: W 7" V A "" - � · !J 7 -;>' - · A !J - lv O) 1f.�g�� V;::. lli -C I. ' 0 -;>, - F' � !J �:ffO)IJ'�iJ� l? vi
i? .l: "? c �� L v� < � ' o C' ? � ::: i? 1? �i r.:vjJ�t��ffilJ.\O) *$±J c l. ' ? � r: iJ��� '
tJ�, c' i? I? tJt -;>' - F' � !J Jt� o)�{�H� JlI� ' O) -c' £6 6 ? iJ�� C �rR'� � v-fiJ�vr -C I. '
0 0
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*t!iv:.1f "? t-: ;;t - A r =:7 V 7 V:. :tc vr 0 B *� · 8 *Jt1t.1itf�, �1fO) 5FiJ�flStiJ� l? 3e
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o i l. "\ o � C �� -C'4t> 0 0
1983� (w,g�Q53�)
ff:t�tf�� �* B g§T$A� CF:!1t!:�
8 j} 7 'J '/ ;r. - '/ �A�t±o
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(J) ��*4tJ� �Cb -C £6 0 0 Murdoch v�� L -C vi i 0 1 J{ (J) �a]zfStJ� £6 9 rJt�J 0)
tMv:..:t O) �*4tJ�51itJv:.�m L -C 4t> 0 0 .:. ;: O)fFliJlv:. l& � l:v-ft-: 8 lJ{ § * Kenneih
Strong 0) t 0) �� < 7 � § vi :@:$*�O) rJt�J v;::'�� � ;h -C �� L t-: t o) -C'4t>
.W B ��bh�*���.��� . • B �.��� L
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79
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